SONGS OF THE WEEK
St Francis Hotel - You'd Gotta Be Alive
The Irish duo (they haven't shared their names with us yet) met in London after moving to the city during the recession. Recently, they've concocted a beguiling cross between soulful psychedelia with a live pop band. This is their second single and an EP comes out in January.
Breda Mayock - Learning Place
Having recorded with Peter Gabriel in the past, Mayo singer-songwriter is no stranger to music that crosses folk, world and alternative textures in the graceful way that Gabriel has been recently. Mayock's follow-up to her 2015 album is trailed with this Rhodes piano-lead learned pop recorded in Dublin and Mayo. A new album arrives in January.
OneKnown - VΛV
Two years since we've heard from Chris Hanna in his OneKnown (who was formerly in a duo with Gemma Dunleavy as Unknown and has been making house and techno under his own name), he has returned with this fine slice of garage-tinged club jam.
The Lost Brothers with Bill Ryder-Jones - So Long, Marianne
With the passing of Leonard Cohen, many artists have been paying tribute to the master. Glen Hansard covered this song at Other Voices last week with Hattie Webb and Jack O'Rourke and here, The Lost Brothers take a break from recording their new album in Liverpool with Bill Ryder-Jones and to cover his most famous song. It's from
Bird Dog Tapes Vol. 1,
a collection of covers and originals, recorded in a day and out now.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Enemies - Valuables
The Kilcoole rock band who have a penchant for textured full-band instrumentals called time on their band in advance of the finishing of their third album. Deciding they should remain friends and not turn into their own enemies, the band felt free to create an album as a final statement and to not worry about a potential audience or what comes next (the band have found fanbases in the US and Japan).
Valuables
benefits from that freedom and the band's evolving sound to create a record that shimmers in a pleasing haze of guitar notes, a lot of singing (the band used to be fully instrumental) and a sense of a final job well-done.
NEW ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Animal Party
Sinéad Bermingham started to make music last summer while living in Toronto. Adopting the name
[ Animal PartyOpens in new window ]
, her music takes on electronic-textures and orchestral sweeps with her own voice the leading tone, sounding a bit like Austra's Katie Stelmanis. Her debut EP
Happiness Factory
demonstrates the style over 6 tracks. Bermingham has been playing live in Toronto too and hopes to record a debut LP and return to Ireland next year.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Cado - Take Me Back
Directed by Second Frame Films
If you're going to make retro rock'n'roll that Elvis would have tapped his toe to, you may as well make a video that looks like it's set in the era too. That's what Kildare artist did with the help of some found footage.
