New artist of the week
Princess
Sometimes you need to see a band live to really get a feel for where they're going. After all, recordings are only snapshots of a time. The music made by Liam Mesbur and Aoife McCarthy, the main members of the Dublin band Princess, has been rooted in an '80s aesthetic of shoegaze-indebted noise-rock.
Recent single Black Window is a good indication of where the duo might be headed - two and half minutes of rhythmic alt-rock with vocals that avoid the obvious.
Live over the weekend, at The Record Spot/The R.A.G.E.'s Record Store Day afterparty in Bello Bar, the song was stretched beyond its recording time by the band's five members. The song featured in a set that had much more of its own identity than their releases so far. Mesbur and McCarthy's growing stage chemistry and ease with performance was clear. The band are going back to the studio, presumably to record a full-length album and presumably bringing that chemistry with them.
Video of the week
Otherkin – Ay Ay
It's a hard thing to take the typical band performing in a blank studio space for a lip-sync video and make something engaging. So hats off to director Finn Keenan for his work on the Otherkin clip which uses effects and composition to create something fresh and different in a bog standard format.
Director: Finn Keenan
Album of the week
HamsandwicH – Stories from the Surface
It can be both a brave and stagnant move to not release an album for five years, especially in a small country like Ireland, where touring opportunities are limited and you run the risk of people getting sick of you very quickly on the festival circuit.
To HamsandwicH's credit, they've become more popular in the intervening years so Stories From The Surface was always likely to make a splash. Yet, the band have used that time to wisely, to write better songs for their third album.
The songs on Stories from the Surface certainly have the hallmarks of what has got them to this point: melodious, sweet female and rasping male vocals from Niamh Farrell and Podge McNamee respectively play a central role, but around them, there's an enriched vigour in the arrangements and a fresh confidence in the songwriting.
For more, read Jim Carroll's interview with the band from The Ticket.
Songs of the week
Le Galaxie – Le Club
Do you know Le Club? By now, many of you will be fully paid-up members of Le Club thanks to Le Galaxie's headline-stealing festival slots over the last few years. This Friday, they release their second album and the title track is a fine example of the Dublin foursome's penchant for penning stadium synth electro.
Ryan Vail & Ciaran Lavery – Sea Legs
Derry and Belfast come together for an EP about the Donegal coast. Electronic musician Ryan Vail and singer-songwriter Ciaran Lavery's collaborative EP establishes an singular identity in its short 18-minute running time that would be a shame to stop at one release. The Sea At Night features the best of both of their talents.
SOAK – Blud
Staying in Derry, young Bridie Monds-Watson's debut album Before We Forgot How to Dream is coming out on Rough Trade at the end of May. A slightly-reworked version of Blud, a previous single released last year on Chvrches' Goodbye Records gets another worthwhile focus.
