Nialler9's New Irish Music: Elm, Brian Deady, Webbs, Funzo X Alan Newman

SONGS OF THE WEEK

Elm - Amends

The Dublin quintet Elm's new song fits their “alternative baroque pop” tag with a spacious cello line and singer Dylan Walsh's cracked high-register giving way to a second half with orchestral guitar-lifted crescendo. Emotive and intimate.

Brian Deady – Clap Both My Hands

Six years on from the release of his last album, Cork singer Brian Deady's soul impact remains undiminished. With a new album

Non-Fiction

on the way,

Clap Both My Hands

heralds his return to upbeat pop and is the kind of song CeeLo Green would cover in a heartbeat. Clap clap.

I Have A Tribe – Medicine From Calgary

Patrick O’Laoghaire's craft continues to grow in stature. As does the arrangement on his new single, which twinkles with piano chords, drums, strings and backing vocals from Fight Like Apes' May Kay who has been playing with O’Laoghaire live recently. It's not clear what the song is about but, as the title suggests, it certainly has healing properties

Litehouse – Black Cat

They might not have left school yet but the Monaghan band Litehouse might well be thinking about a life separate from Leaving Cert results if they show the ability to knock out this kind of catchy indie pop brightness regularly. Do your homework first though lads.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Simon Fagan - Lost To The Deep

Brought to our attention by winning the Best International Music Video at the Cork Film Festival this week, Berlin director Eric Tiedt's lucid animated underwater clip for the Navan-born Berlin-based singer-songwriter's lilting folk track. A free download is available from

[ simonfagan.net ]

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RELEASE OF THE WEEK

Funzo X Alan Newman - Artificial High

The Dublin vocalist Funzo has collaborated with producer Alan Newman on an impressive full-length release that eschews the any typical style in favour of a polychromatic mix of pop, hip-hop beats, soulful vocals, funk and R&B. There's an African pop thread in places melodically that gives this album a Graceland vibe. Artificial High it may be but it's a refreshing one. Highlights include the horn-featuring funky soul rhythm of

Like A Beat

, the psychedelic-pop of

Lime Wedge

and the acoustic pop beat of

Dreamer Girl.

The album is launched next Friday, November 27th, in Whelan's in Dublin.

NEW ARTIST OF THE WEEK

Webbs

Dreamy electronic pop is the hook for the Dublin duo Webbs who have spent three years cooking up their celestial sounds, as heard on their debut EP

The Stolen Child.

A chillwave-indebted take on synth-pop with haunting female vocals, check out the reverb-friendly five-track release on Bandcamp

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