SONGS OF THE WEEK
Villagers
- Wichita Lineman
Taken from their new live album Where
Have You Been All My Life?
Conor O'Brien and co have covered the Jimmy Webb-penned
Wichita Lineman
, made famous by Glen Campbell. O'Brien brings an emotional orchestral edge to the cover, as heard on his last year's stripped-back
Darling Arithmetic
.
Basciville - Blues In Red
The Irish music scene is a small place, and in the past few years - and with more eyes on Ireland than ever - it has become more difficult for an artist to maintain the necessary space to develop. Brothers Cillian and Lorcan Byrne's music holds the kind of rare promise of something great. It doesn't hinder the music that the Wexford band's vocalist sound
A LOT
like Hozier on the surface, but it might affect the amount of attention they're getting. Dig below, however, and there's more of an orchestral dynamic and an old-timey blues feel to their nascent discography so far. 2016 will be an interesting one for Basciville.
Sea Pinks - Yr Horoscope
Trading in rhythmically taut surf pop that is bursting with pop influences and melodies, the music of Sea Pinks is a perfect soundtrack to an adolescent-style jump-around bop. Just listen to all 118 seconds of
Yr Horoscope
for a ray of vintage sunshine. Neil Brogan releases his sixth independent album this week.
Bear Worship – Our Friends
Karl Knuttel formerly made music as Ivan St John but reappeared last year with a synth-driven sound that recalled Animal Collective. Newest song
Our Friends
has less of a narrow line to its influences, sounding like Antony Hegarty hitting high notes while Beach House play a starry-eyed indie cover of Berlin's
Take My Breath Away
.
Ódú - Different
An immediately likable and impressive debut track from singer-songwriter Sally Ó Dúnlaing, who is promising much more music of the ilk of the tropical pop of
Different
in 2016.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Morning Veils - Her Kind
Released on December 30th - when hardly anyone was paying attention to new music releases - the debut album from the Cork three-piece (made up of Roslyn Steer, Aisling O'Riordan and Elaine Howley of The Altered Hours) is fittingly understated in tone and production. Moving between folk and lo-fi guitar rock with psychedelia, experimental and ambient touches, the 13-track album feels like an introduction to a band's sound rather than a fully fledged offering. That it was also released on cassette seals the ramshackle throwback sentiment in the music.
NEW ARTIST OF THE WEEK
TooFools
It's not every week a nine-piece band rolls around with an impressive debut track. TooFools is the brainchild of Lorcan O'Dwyer and Steven McCann who formed at BIMM college in Dublin. The pair roped in a gaggle of friends to play (including McCann's Planet Parade bandmate Michael Hopkins, Cian Hanley on drums, Kevin Corcoran on keys, Andrew Lloyd on synth/guitar, Oisin Murtagh on Sax and backing vocals from Remy Naidoo and Ciara O’Connor) a bacchanal of funk, pop and soul. The band made an appearance at Turning Pirate annual NYE mixtape - expect more live outings from them in the near future. Their debut single proper Touch is out laterthis month.
