MusicReview

Fabric Presents Saoirse: Hotshot Dublin DJ’s essential summer listening

RM 1 by Saoirse closes the collection in a subtly funky and smooth style

Fabric Presents Saoirse
Fabric Presents Saoirse
    
Artist: Various Artists
Genre: Dance and electronica
Label: Fabric

For those of us who have swapped the occasional night on the dance floor at Fabric, in London, for sedater pleasures, it’s great to see the club’s label firing on all cylinders to provide some essential home listening. Last week it released a new track by Burial, Unknown Summer, on its new Fabric Originals imprint, alongside Infirmary, by the man who discovered him, the Hyperdub founder Kode 9.

The Fabric Live series of 100 compilations was an indispensable guide to electronica between 2001 and 2018, bookended by James Lavelle and the aforementioned Kode 9 and Burial. It also features crackers by two sadly deceased luminaries, the Mancunian drum and bass innovator Marcus Intalex and left-field music’s greatest champion, John Peel. Bonobo kickstarted Fabric Presents in 2019, and now Saoirse, from inner-city Dublin, becomes the first Irish DJ to present a mix for one of the most illustrious brands in modern music.

Saoirse’s mix is perfect for summer listening, deftly mixing deep house with tantalising techno and her own music. Highlights include the opening track, Flex, by Duckett; a terrific Detroit-inspired piece entitled The Evidence, by the Polish producer Jacek Sienkiewicz; Identify, by Luca Lozano, mixed into Transcendental Training Tactics, by DJ Normal 4; and RM 1 by Saoirse, which closes the collection in a subtly funky and smooth style.

It’s another landmark achievement for this rising star, who opened for Bicep at the 3Arena in Dublin on St Patrick’s Day. Surely her own mammoth headline slots are beckoning.

Éamon Sweeney

Éamon Sweeney, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about music and culture