Galway singer songwriter, Tracy Bruen returns today with her first new music in over two years.
‘Dream Away’ is an anthem for love. Inspired by the feminist marches and protests for the rights of minorities across the island of Ireland, the song speaks to all in our society who have been marginalised and oppressed by a system which has left them in the cold. The song is a call for inclusion, solidarity and love. It appeals to the power of people to heal through kindness and effect change for all together.
The video was shot by AMW Visual, on location in Galway and features many well known Galweigans, members of Tracy’s own family, her bandmates and closest friends. It is an ode to love.
2019 saw Kodaline’s huge popularity continue to prosper across the continents with some of the biggest shows of their career. At home in Dublin they sold-out two huge outdoor shows at St. Anne’s Park, while a ten-date UK tour culminated with a packed show at London’s historic Roundhouse. Further afield, they hit festivals including Lollapalooza, Benicàssim and Open’er before becoming the first Irish band to headline the massive NH7 Weekender in Pune, India. Their extensive touring throughout Asia also included a headline set at Monsoon Music Festival in Vietnam plus dates in China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore.
Now Kodaline line-up an even bigger year ahead by sharing their brand new single ‘Wherever You Are’. The track is the first taste of their eagerly anticipated fourth album, which will be released later this year.
‘Wherever You Are’ finds the band embracing the emotion-packed and immediately anthemic songwriting that has become a hallmark of their biggest hits. Opening with Steve Garrigan’s expressive topline backed by little more than swirling vocal harmonies, Kodaline gradually build up the production before the track erupts into a dramatic denouement. The track was produced and written by the band themselves.
‘Wherever You Are’ is already emerging as a fan favourite having been played at numerous Kodaline shows last year. It was a fitting way to introduce a song that reflects the band’s experiences on the road.
“‘Wherever You Are’ is about loved ones staying in your heart and mind even when they’re not with you,” says Garrigan. “I wrote it specifically for my girlfriend as due to being away on tour all the time, we never really get to see each other.”
Their first release since the 2018 album ‘Politics of Living’, ‘Wherever You Are’ introduces a new chapter in the band’s phenomenally successful career. After first breaking through in 2013 with their debut single ‘High Hopes’, Kodaline have scored three #1 albums in Ireland, two Top 5 albums in the UK and numerous strong chart placings all over the world.
That huge popularity is further underlined with their streaming stats. They’ve far exceeded a billion streams at Spotify, adding 283 million streams from a total of 79 countries in 2019 alone – which resulted in their tracks being played for an equivalent total of 208 decades of listening time throughout the course of the year. Those stats are made all the more impressive given that they didn’t release any new music. Meanwhile their YouTube account is now approaching 600 million views.
‘My Something Beautiful’ is the first single from Luan Parle’s stunning new album ‘Never Say Goodbye’, out 7th February 2020. The album features 10 original tracks, “from lovelorn country ballads to gothic Americana to hard-hitting social commentary” (Nick Kelly, broadsheet.ie), including two co-writes with Dire Straits guitarist Hal Lindes.
“With ‘Never Say Goodbye’ Luan Parle has delivered her finest collection of songs to date” (Colm O’Hare, Hotpress)
‘My Something Beautiful’ will be released on 17th January 2020 at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, Co. Wicklow, kicking off Luan’s 2020 nationwide tour.
“’My Something Beautiful’ marries six-string heaven with a sad-eyed tale of romantic heartbreak that could make angels weep. With a voice pure and true, Luan Parle sings from the heart but aims for the gut. Luan’s songwriting has matured to the point where she can rightfully claim to be the Emmylou of the Emerald Isle. Nashville are you listening?” Nick Kelly, Music Editor, broadsheet.ie
“The single ‘My Something Beautiful’ blends jangly pop/rock smarts with country textures…guitar-driven with an insistently jaunty pace, it’s the kind of song which would sit happily in the repertoires of Emmylou Harris, Natalie Merchant or even The Bangles. There are echoes too of Fleetwood Mac in the seductive chorus and the tune is firmly grounded in that classic West Coast FM radio sound which has proved so enduring over the years. To put it another way, if Parle guested with [the late] Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers at their peak, the results would sound something like this…” Colm O’Hare, Hot Press.
Meteor Award and Tatler Award Winner singer-songwriter Luan Parle has had numerous hits and accolades including Meteor Ireland Music Award for Best Irish Female. Her Top 10 hit single ‘Ghost’ spent three months in the Irish Charts and was the most-played Irish single in the same year, also featuring on numerous No. 1 compilation albums.
Luan released three singles (‘Day Is Done’, ‘Roll The Dice’ and ‘You’re Not Here’) from her last EP ’Roll The Dice’, all three singles topped the iTunes Chart; ‘Day Is Done’ peaked at No. 8 in the Irish Radio Airplay Chart and No. 35 in the overall airplay charts, reaching an audience of almost 8 million listeners.
The Wicklow-born songstress signed her first record deal at just 12 years of age, later signing with Sony Music and Elton John’s management company, Twenty-First Artists. She has written and recorded with some of the world’s most successful songwriters and producers including Grammy-Award-Winning Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow, Michael Jackson, Prince, Travelling Wilburys, Elton John) and Billy Steinberg (Madonna, Roy Orbison, Cyndi Lauper, The Pretenders, Whitney Houston, The Bangles, Celine Dion).
Having spent the last few years touring extensively in Germany, the USA, the UK, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ireland, Luan returned to the studio to record her fourth studio album ‘Never Say Goodbye’ which will be released on 7th February 2020.
‘My Something Beautiful’, a new single by Luan Parle will be released on 17th January 2020.
‘Never Say Goodbye’, Luan Parle’s fourth studio album will be released 7th February 2020.
2020 ‘Never Say Goodbye’ Tour Dates
January 17th
Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, Co. Wicklow
February 8th
Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford
February 27th
Bob’s Hideout, Durrow, Co. Laois
February 28th
Birr Theatre & Arts Centre, Co. Offaly
February 29th
Balor Arts Centre, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal
March 6th
Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
March 7th
Backstage Theatre, Farneyhoogan, Longford
March 27th
Whelan’s, Co. Dublin
March 28th
An Seanachai, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
April 3rd
Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely, Co. Wicklow
April 16th
Draíocht Arts Centre, Blanchardstown, Co. Dublin
April 18th
Cleere’s Theatre, Co. Kilkenny
May 16th
Whale Theatre, Greystones, Co. Wicklow
May 22nd
Nenagh Arts Centre, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary
May 23rd
The Glorach Theatre, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick
May 29th
Garbo’s Castlebar, Co. Mayo
May 31st
Gallery Café, Gort, Co. Galway
Tickets for the ‘Never Say Goodbye’ tour are available from luanparle.com
Lost Brothers, Oisin Leech and Mark McCausland, have released the second single from their forthcoming new album. ‘After The Fire’ features M Ward and Howe Gelb on electric guitars and Bob Dylan’s long time band leader Tony Garnier playing an upright bass that once belonged to jazz luminary Charles Mingus. Co-producer Daniel Schlett (War On Drugs) plays a Jupiter 8 synth.
The song was recorded at Strange Weather Studios in Brooklyn New York and produced by Daniel Schlett and Tony Garnier.
“It was the very first thing we did in the studio on the first day of recording the album,” recalls Oisin Leech of The Lost Brothers.
“The song itself is a statement of perseverance and survival against all the odds. A flower growing from the aftermath, the rubble and the ashes.”
“We tried to get some dirt and grit into the rhythm of the lyrics on this song,” continues Oisin, “growing up in Ireland, our world was wet fields and grey skies- this was our landscape as youngsters and still remains our stomping ground really.”
The new album ‘After The Fire After The Rain’ is coming February 7th.
The band will tour the new record with shows at Vicar Street Dublin Saturday March 21st London’s Southbank Centre March 3rd as part of a Spring Tour.
March 3rd – London – The Southbank- The Purcell Room March 19th – Omagh – Strule Arts Theatre March 20th – Belfast – The Ulster Sports Club March 21st – Dublin – Vicar Street March 25th – Galway – Town Hall Theatre March 26th – Castlebar -The Royal Theatre March 28 – Letterkenny – An Grianan Theatre April. 3rd – Waterford – St. Patrick’s Gateway April 4th – Cork – Live At St. Luke’s April 5th – Limerick – Dolans
The
shortlist for this year’s RTÉ Choice Music
Prize Irish Album of the Year 2019, in
association with IMRO & IRMA, was announced today on RTÉ 2FM’s
Tracy Clifford Show by Jim Carroll, chairman of the judging panel. The
shortlist is as follows:
Daithi – L.O.S.S. (Strange Brew) Mick Flannery – Mick Flannery (Rosaleen Records) Fontaines D.C. – Dogrel (Partisan Records) Girl Band – The Talkies (Rough Trade Records) Jafaris – Stride (DFL) Junior Brother – Pull the Right Rope (Strange Brew) Lankum – The Livelong Day (Rough Trade Records) Soak – Grim Town (Rough Trade Records) Maija Sofia – Bath Time (Trapped Animal Records) Sorcha Richardson – First Prize Bravery (Faction Records)
The Irish Album of the Year 2019 will be announced at the Live Event and will be broadcast live on RTÉ 2FM in a special four hour extended programme from 7-11pm, with a special RTÉ Choice Music Prize highlights programme going out on RTÉ2 television the following week.
The
15th annual RTÉ Choice Music Prize will once again celebrate the best in Irish
recorded music. The Prize has become one of the music industry
highlights of the year since its inception in 2005. The Irish Album of the Year
award is chosen from a shortlist of ten albums by a panel of twelve Irish music
media professionals and industry experts. The full list of
judges is on the RTÉ Choice Music Prize http://www.choicemusicprize.ie
RAAP and Culture Ireland are
also official project partners of the RTE Choice Music Prize.
Culture Ireland will fund the attendance of influential overseas Industry executives to attend the RTE Choice Music Prize Live Event and RTÉ Choice Music Prize “Conversations” will return and take place in IMRO during the day on the 5th.
Tickets for the Choice Music Prize live event are on sale now from all
Ticketmaster outlets and from http://www.ticketmaster.ie priced €28.00 including booking fee.
Trio is a gig that will showcase the cream of Irish female songwriting talent. This very special event will take place in ‘Lost lane’ (Dublin) on Friday 17th of January 2020
Doors 7.45pm. Tickets €15 from lostlane.ie and at the door.
Blaithin Carney, Our Cousin Paula and Cat Lundy will take to the stage to perform 3 headline sets. They will be backed by a session band of incredible calibre, Robbie Malone on bass (David Gray) Jake Curran on guitar (Niall Horan), Dave Hingerty on Drums (The Frames, Kila) and Cian Boylan on keys (Sinead O’Connor). This unique project brings together three shining artists that are on the verge of greatness. They will share the stage as three equal billing performances that will deliver a multitude of melodic splendor. Running order will simply be a draw of straws 5 mins before showtime.
It will truly be a special one-off evening.
Blaithin Carney:
Irish singer-songwriter and gifted pianist, Blaithin Carney, writes lyrical, relatable indie-pop underpinned by powerful lyrics, emotional depth and classical influences. Perfectly treading the line between sincere balladry and indie sensibilities, Blaithin Carney weaves her distinctive vocals around the complexities of contemporary life issues through emotionally exposing lyrics. Over the last 18 months, Blaithin Carney has taken the Irish music scene by storm, with four Top 5 hits in the Irish singer-songwriter charts. Her debut single, Rome, entered at #1, knocking Ed Sheeran off the top spot.
“Cat’s voice is sublime. She can reach emotional depths and expression most of us can only dream of. We are blessed”. -Ger Mc Donnell
Cat Lundy, a 60’s, blues-inspired storyteller. With raw, unapologetic emotion, she delivers her truth. Her debut album 9 Lives is influenced by love, heartbreak and relationships. Cat finished recording her debut album with producer Ger Mc Donnell in 2018. Ger has worked with artists such as U2, Kasabian, The Cure and Martha Wainwright…to name a few.
“Cat controls each song from the start to finish. She is
effortless and cool and knows how to lure her listeners in. You can hear a pin
drop as she holds her audience spellbound.”
As the youngest of six sisters growing up in suburban Dublin the vocal Our Cousin Paula had to work hard to be heard. When she did find a voice it was through words and music. The clarity and tone that she brought to her own songs like America Dreaming, Fire, Don’t Turn Around and many more startled and enchanted even veterans of the music industry, who thought they had heard it all before. Andrea Corr, of The Corrs, Bill Whelan of Riverdance and legendary producer David Foster (who has worked with singers like Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand) were among those impressed with the quality of her voice and the maturity of her thoughtful lyrics. Our Cousin Paula remains an enigma, a voice that defies categorisation and comes with a quiet intensity that has held audiences who heard it spell-bound.
Nicolas Kluzek releases a minimalistic, moody and evocative new EP, ‘Balance’, following the success of his ‘Rain Or Shine E.P’ last summer (which so far has generated well over 1.5 million streams on Spotify and Apple Music).
This record is inspired by places; the west of Ireland on the opening track ‘West’, Asia in ‘Indochine’ and ‘Awakening’. Like all of Nicolas Kluzek’s music, the purpose of this EP is to transport the listener to a mood, or a memory, even if just for a few short minutes.
It’s a Lo-Fi instrumental hiphop record by many stylistic
traits, but also more the work of a composer than of a hiphop beat maker, as
all the parts are written, not sampled. In this way it is a personal take on a
popular genre.
‘Balance’ EP by Nicolas Kluzek is available across all digital platforms now.
