SONGS OF THE WEEK
Great Good Fine OK feat. Orla Gartland - Shapeshifting
A cross-Atlantic collaboration between New York synth-pop band and 21-year-old Dublin pop songwriter,
Shapeshifting
falls somewhere between EDM, 1980s pop and dreamy summery R&B.
Orlando feat. Gemma Dunleavy – Mixed Messages
After being accepted to the Red Bull Music Academy in New York, the producer Orlando Volcano moved to the city for good three years ago and has spent his musical time exploring global underground dance sounds. His latest EP on London's Liminal Sounds features the tropical dancehall of
Mixed Messages
with vocals by the effervescent Gemma Dunleavy (Murlo, White Collar Boy, Clu).
Heathers - Call Home
Ellie and Louise McNamara came back to the public eye earlier this year with November, a moving song about loss. For their newest single, the twins are now showing off the pop stripes they've earned from songwriting for Disney and others in the US.
Call Home
is a softly-lit electronic pop song with that connected sister energy running through it.
DIVAN - Sale of Lakes
Irish music enthusiasts will remember The Ambient Affair, who had a string of promising indie folk releases a few years back. Now, with a line-up change, the band features Jamie Clarke, Marc Gallagher (both of The Ambience Affair previously, along with Conor Deasy (Biggles Flys Again, Tomorrows).
Sale Of Lakes
isn't a million miles from their former band but production by Brent Knopf (most recently known as one half of El Vy with Matt Berninger of The National) gives the song a North American indie-rock sensibility to it. An album,
Modern Knowledge
is out on August 19th.
RELEASE OF THE WEEK
Roger Doyle - Frail Things In Eternal Places
The unfettered composer Roger Doyle returns with a new collection of music, on the 24th album in his discography. The title of the album is taken from an essay by Giulio Camillo (1550) on his idea of a Memory Theatre and three track titles are taken from Joyce's
Finnegan's Wake
. The 14 works here are largely drawn from improvised or scored electro-acoustic composition and feature vocals from eight singers including Caitriona O'Leary, Mary Costelloe, Tuula Voutilainen and Elena Lopez. At 65 years of age, one of Ireland's long-standing electronic composers shows now sign of stopping an avant's journey.
NEW ARTIST OF THE WEEK
New Valley Wolves
The popularity of Royal Blood, the English band with the minimal personnel but maximum rock sound shows that loud guitar rock has an audience despite media statements sounding the death knell of the guitar. New Valley Wolves certainly couldn't give a flying V about that notion. The Dublin rock duo of Jonny Lucey and Baz Joyce cram their high-octane rock'n'roll with bluesy riffs and distorted roars in the style of Sabbath and Motorhead, sonics designed to facilitate an old-fashioned wildness that never goes out of fashion.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
Funeral Suits - The Way Back
Directed by James Fitzgerald
Funeral Suits show their form once again the video arena with James Fitzgerald's beautifully shot story exploring the distance between mother and son, in the absence of a father figure.
