Nialler9's New Irish Music: SOAK, Brian Deady, Meltybrains? and more

SONGS OF THE WEEK

Meltybrains? - New Don

The aural oddity and experimentation inherent in the music of the Dublin-based band is a big attraction at this point. With each new song, the band showcase a different side of themselves, perhaps one they did not know existed until it manifests. After a few years of elongated songs and fumbling in the dark, it's starting to sound like Meltybrains? are compacting their craft into a more digestable format without compromise, albeit, as

New Don

proves, one that sounds like a creepy song written under a duvet with a heavy dose of the fear.

Sea Pinks – Depth Of Field

Neil Brogan has been tipping along making some sweet indie guitar pop since leaving Girls Names a few years back. The new single from forthcoming album

Soft Days

doesn't deviate from his formula much, but it doesn't need to, as

Depth Of Field

is built on a lush guitar groove that could lighten many a mood.

Runaway Go - Alive

Dave Jackson and Fiona O'Kane are the pair behind the Belfast Band Runaway Go, and have just released their debut album, which has come after six singles and tour support for Bastille and Editors in the UK.

Alive

is the the title track and lead single, an indication of how these two musicians mix indie and pop with an uplifting manner.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

SOAK – Reckless Behaviour

Directed by Bob Gallagher

The latest video from the Mercury Prize-nominated debut album from the young Derry musician Bridie Monds-Watson is tied together by two women of different generations united by their own reckless behaviour.

RELEASE OF THE WEEK

Brian Deady - Non-Fiction

Versed in soul he may be in style terms, but on his second album

Non-Fiction

, his first in six years, the Cork musician is baring it too on songs which delve into the aftermath of a relationship, and his relationship with his father on the deeply affecting

Dad

. There's space for some radio-friendly CeeLo-style upbeat pop on

Clap Both My Hands

and the bluesy

Tapes

too, but

Non-Fiction

gives its priority to the personal, dressing it with a deep knowledge of soul, blues, gospel and R&B.

NEW ARTIST OF THE WEEK

Wizards Of Firetop Mountain

The members of Wizards of Firetop Mountain are drawn from bands who have played around the Dublin rock scene over the last number of years including No Spill Blood, Dread Sovereign, Vircolac, Realistic Train, Zom and Puget. If you don't know any of those bands, it matters little, as Ain't Gonna Lose suggests, Wizards of Firetop Mountain are too busy throwing back to hi-octane 70s American rock, kicking out the jams and enjoying themselves to care.