The Irish @ The Great Escape
Over the weekend, The tenth annual edition of The Great Escape festival in Brighton took place. The festival, which is largely aimed at UK industry with international delegates, had an Irish and Northern Irish contingents that were among the highlights of the festival.
The industrial-sounding garage rock band Girl Band filled a 1200 capacity venue with their sharp, screeching rock sounds before creating further queues around the block later on Saturday night at Bleach, a much smaller basement venue.
Fellow Rough Trade signee SOAK, the Derry singer-songwriter played a high-profile show weeks before her debut album comes out, while lines went down the stairs and nearly out the door of The Prince Albert for both sets from the rising pop/rock band All Tvvins and the afternoon ravers Le Galaxie.
Word of mouth was strong for Dublin rockers The Riptide Movement and Antrim singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery while the young Belfast folk band Silences suggested the impression of a small island will continue to be felt internationally in the coming years.
New artist of the week
LOAH
Sallay Matu Garnett is a singer/songwriter with Sierra Leonean and Irish heritage. Her music is worldly, yet not world music. Raised in Maynooth and West Africa, with her sister who is also a fine singer (by the name of Feather), Loah has a classically-informed background that has resulted in a repertoire of folk and soul music.
Her breakthrough song Cortége manifests all those influences in a jazz-inflected soulful song sung in her West African native tongues Sherbro and Mend.
This weekend, Loah will express both sides of her artistic being with a series of concerts representing the ying and yang: art and soul. The first acoustic concert, Art, takes place in the Fumbally Stables this Thursday in Dublin 8 while the Soul part happens with a full band on Saturday in the Bello Bar in Portobello.
Songs of the week
I'm Your Vinyl – Erase It
The duo of Dana Donnelly and Ken McHugh has previously fallen between indie and commercial appeal but in new single Erase It has the pop charts firmly in its sights with its brass-born retro pop catchiness and a production (from Goyte producer Francois Tetaz) ready for radio.
Sorcha Richardson – Petrol Station
She might be living in New York five years this year but the Irish singer-songwriter hasn't fully embraced the lingo or this song would be called Gas Station already. After a couple of years working with production teams on collaborations, the electronic influence can be felt on Richardson's first solo track in a while. Her voice is what carries Petrol Station, particularly the "you're coming over to my house" hook.
Video of the week
Young Wonder – Sweet Dreaming
The debut album from Cork electronic pop duo Young Wonder, Birth, was released this week and one of the mightiest cuts from it, Sweet Dreaming, received a video that juxtaposes the song's uplifting thirst for happiness with some expressive ballet moves in various public locations. Director: Unnamed - Poland
