SONGS OF THE WEEK
Feather - Like No Other
Sibling music rivalry doesn't have to be about brothers punching each other like louts. It can be a positive and supportive thing as Sierra Leonean/Irish sisters Emma and Sallay Garnett have shown with their recent work as Feather and Loah respectively. Both sisters participate in each other's music and while Loah has been the more prominent lately, the music of Feather is equally worthy of your attention. Like No Other feels like an arrival: across the six-minute track, there's a confident cross-pollination of genres: soul, funk, R&B and electronica.
Plutonic Dust - Bright Lights
The nu-disco synth electronic band Plutonic Dust have been hovering around the Irish music scene for the past few years. Without a huge build-up, they released their debut album two weeks ago. Grand Delusions shares a similar sonic space to Chromatics and Crazy P. This is night-time music for dancefloors and like an exclusive club, it only exists on iTunes for now.
Pleasure Beach - Magic Mountain
The Belfast five-piece have nailed their stadium-sized rock songs so far recalling Springsteen and Arcade Fire in their short but promising career. New single Magic Mountain is reminiscent of Canada's most popular band and a band that have capitalised on a vintage rock sensibility, The War On Drugs. The song is undoubtedly thrilling but one hopes there's more of to follow out under the shadow of those giants.
Zaska - Got To Go
Counting Hozier and members of Wyvern Lingo and Little Green Cars as former band members, it's no wonder Wicklow Max Zaska is making a bigger noise for himself of late when he can see what's possible. With a degree in Jazz Performance at Newpark Music Centre under his belt and an eight-piece band in tow, Zaska's music is jazzier than the blues of Hozier (he also sounds like him) but what it lacks in gritty sonics it makes up for in brightness.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Lisa O'Neill - Pothole in the Sky
It's been a pleasure to witness the growth of Cavan singer-songwriter from an idiosyncratic interest to a substantial artist with wit and a twang of colloquial embrace. Since the release of her second album
Same Cloth Or Not
, her craft has grown immensely. Yet, it's a pleasure of
Pothole
in the Sky
that the musical embellishments are minimal (provided by Mossy Nolan, Emma Smith, Joseph Doyle and Seamus Fogarty) and O'Neill remains the main focus, as she examines and makes sense of herself in the grand scheme of things. You can read out full review of
Pothole in the Sky
.
NEW ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Lyra
It's not often when a new artist arrives with a fully formed sound, not least one that manages to slip under the new music radar as Lyra has. The Cork-born London-based artist's debut single
Rabbit In The Headlights
is a track that addresses the identity that any new artist has to find, and the decision to embrace their own accent or adopt a global one. Lyra wisely chooses her own voice, yet production-wise this track is of a global variety – modern R&B pop. FKA Twigs, Aurora and Kate Bush influences can be detected. The imprint of Enya, intentional or not, is felt too.
Rabbit In The Headlights
is an intriguing starter.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Weenz - Weenz
Rising Limerick rapper Keith “Weenz” Ryan primed his rhyming skills and used the 1916 centenary as a jumping off point for a state of the nation one-take video address that hits hard. “Easier to pretend that everything's alright / the kids are alright / Me? I'm just wound too tight / Must be that helicopter sound tonight / shining down that light / on that river / makes me shiver / tell me have you found that child?”
