Month: January 2021

The wait is over: Apella’s much anticipated debut album ‘1963’ is set for release on January 29th on Spotify and Apple Music. Pre-orders for the physical release have LAUNCHED TODAY via apellamusic.com. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this album are going directly to The Marie Keating Foundation specifically to help fund the outstanding support services they provide to women affected by Breast Cancer. ‘Point Of View’ the brand new single from Apella is out now.

Thoughtfully named after the birth year of his mother, ‘1963’ is an incredibly personal record from frontman Dara Quilty, who has teamed up with The Marie Keating Foundation.

Speaking of the album Dara Quilty said:

“Releasing this album doesn’t scare me in the way that I thought it would. I am more daunted by the vulnerability of opening up about it but not opening up contradicts what I stand for. My Mother lives with Stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer. We live & fight together. Cancer has been part of my life for 10 years and I have learned a lot. The biggest learning being that outside of science; support matters more than anything.

 ‘1963’ is for the woman who faces diagnosis today, for the woman who is sitting in that chemotherapy chair for the first time today, for the woman who has just reached her 5 years remission today and all inbetween. At every single point, even when the doctors give you positive news, you’re not obliged to feel okay and relieved. Help is available, please use it.”

100% of the proceeds from this album bought on apellamusic.com will go directly to The Marie Keating Foundation’s Positive Living support group, Survive and Thrive programme, BRCA awareness and support programme and School’s Cancer Awareness Programme.

Apella are giving away the custom built RQ1963 pink guitar designed by Dara Quilty and crafted by Custom Built Ireland to one lucky person who buys the album. Full details available from apellamusic.com

Fresh off the back of their radio chart topping single ‘Point Of View’, ‘1963’ is a juxtaposition of rhythmically crafted chaos delivered by drummer Ronan Nolan and impeccable talent of singer/songwriter and producer Dara Quilty.

‘1963’ –  Tracklisting:

We Met at a Party
Buried You
City Limits
Graceful Dancer
New Things Get Old
Shadows of My Personality
Crossfire
Logic
Deja You
Ferris Wheels
Little Bit Less
Point of View

YouTube: youtube.com/apella
Twitter: twitter.com/apella
Instagram: instagram.com/apella
Facebook: facebook.com/apellamusic

Proudly supported by:

Dublin Vinyl, Mission PR, Custom Built Ireland and Natalie Keville Design.

Following a year in which they released their first four singles, Irish-language collective Deoraí have hit the ground running in 2021 with the release of the music video for their newest single ‘Phase’.

Jack Delaney, who fronts Deoraí, describes ‘Phase’ as being written from the perspective of a character talking to a friend who has fallen into a deep depressive state and has begun isolating themselves from family, friends, and support networks. “It’s particularly relevant during lockdown,”  Delaney adds of the track’s inspiration.

Delaney describes how the video brings a unique viewpoint into play, by noting the significance of the video’s character. “The character is visiting the grave of this friend and her ghost appears and dances: something which the character doesn’t see” Delaney explains, “There is a kind of multi-timeline element to the song/video as it is not clear from the lyrics if the person is still alive or not and whether the lyrics are talking to a person who is alive or dead and what they mean when they say ‘You never know what’s beyond this phase, but I promise you you’ll come back to life again’.”

“They can be seen as talking to a person trying to lift their spirits and draw them out of depression and despair, or talking to a dead person, perhaps hoping that they come back to life. In this case the whole piece is left open to context and interpretation.”

The track was written and produced by Delaney himself, and was mastered by GRAMMY Award winning producer Camilo Silva F in Columbia. In contrast, the video concept came in collaboration with filmmaker Gerard Walsh, who also produced and directed the video. The dancer featured in the film is Lara Hamilton. 

Deoraí are an independent project combining contemporary modern music and the Irish language to create something new and exciting. “I feel that although there are some Irish language acts and music,” Jack notes, “there is only a small amount of Irish language music which is breaking creative ground”. With ‘Phase’ marking the first English language track Deoraí have released, it marks a stark departure from their previous work.

Delaney, a fluent Irish speaker, only began learning the language at the age of 26 after attending school in London. Returning to Ireland, he studied twenty minutes a day, five days a week until he felt confident enough to begin to speak it after a year. Twelve months later he was comfortable and fluent.

Deoraí have a busy year ahead, with more songs set to be released over the coming months featuring a host of Irish artists. With work still to be done, Deoraí are displaying a new innovative way for artists across Ireland to incorporate the Irish language into their music, adding to the growing oeuvre.

The song ‘Phase’, and its accompanying video, was released on all major streaming platforms on Friday, 22nd of January. 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1kz9Va300AG4IT0McCYflQ?si=2P9g8t02S6S0z-c2Zw9AQQ
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkAjftkcHLtEKw4FiriIZSQ
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/andeorai
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ceoldeorai
Instagram: https://www.instragram.com/andeorai/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andeorai/

Indie pop band Pyro Villas are raising the bar with their brand new single, ‘Edalyn’ which blends figurative lyrics with beautiful pizzicato strings and a smooth as candyfloss soundscape.

The band have received widespread support from leading music tastemakers drawing comparisons to major Irish artists as seen in iRadio’s Kayte O’Malley statement “It’s LIT! The lead singer has a very Dermot Kennedy-y tone. Big fan of this.” 

And Spin1038’s Sarina Bellissimo commenting “What an exciting new band to come out of Ireland. Such a fab sound and vibe – with the confidence of a well-established band. I can not wait to see what they do next.”

Pyro Villas have also gone on to sign an artist development deal with Bentley Records in the United States with the aim of expanding their audience base abroad and continue to develop their soulful psychedelic synth-pop sound further.

The band consists of Andy Gleeson and Killian Dowling who have been writing and producing music together for the last seven years, as well as talented musician Cian Guinee.

The song was written and arranged by Andy Gleeson and Killian Dowling, mixed by LUMINARY and mastered by Fergal Davis (Muse, Republic of Loose, Sinead O’Connor). 

To keep up to date with their latest releases make sure to follow them on Spotify here.

https://www.instagram.com/pyrovillasmusic/?hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2fkYQuahe0T6DGvn8To9xA
https://www.facebook.com/pyrovillasmusic/

This is the second recording from Mick O’Brien (uilleann pipes/flute/whistle), Emer Mayock (flute/whistle/pipes) and Aoife Ní Bhriain (fiddle, viola, concertina) of music collected by James Goodman (1828-96) in the southwest of Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century.

The manuscripts, held at Trinity College Dublin and now published in two volumes by the Irish Traditional Music Archive are of great significance because they preserve much of the traditional music of the south of Ireland as it was sung and played in the years before traditional culture there was devastated by the Great Famine of the 1840s.

This recording draws primarily from the second published volume while occasionally revisiting the previously explored initial volume. The manuscripts continue to reward repeated visits and provide new possibilities when viewed new and in a different light.

What the trio present on this new recording is a compelling selection from over one thousand tunes in the distilled edition exemplifying the range of material contained there while including some more unusual items unearthed this time around.

Having received a TG4 Gradam Ceoil Award in 2014 for their collaborative role in the revival of the music of the Goodman manuscripts, this recording marks a development in the trio’s musical approach, at times enlarging the instrumental palette and adding layers or paring things right back. The resulting sound is in places quite different from the previous recording having continued to develop through live performance for a number of years now.

Available on CD from January 22, 2021:

www.custysmusic.com
www.claddaghrecords.com
www.itma.ie
www.pipers.ie
and as a Digital Download at goodmantunestrio.bandcamp.com

Tropolis is the new electronic/chillwave project from former Planet Parade duo Michael Hopkins & Andrew Lloyd.

In January 2020 they released their debut single ‘Oceans Away’.

Thoughout the year they released three more singles including an inventive cover of Wrapped Around Your Finger by The Police.

Michael & Andrew met during their school days in 2000 and have been writing and playing music together for over 20 years.

They record and produce everything from their studio in Co.Kildare.

‘Silver Line’ is the first song of many to come from Tropolis in 2021.

Havar are a five piece Alternative Rock band from Dublin, Ireland. Made up of two brothers and their lifelong best friends, Havar have played live sets in some of Dublin’s greatest venues, including The Academy, Whelan’s and The Trinity Ball. Their blend of a traditional rock set-up, modern drum beats and poppy melodies have drawn comparisons to Imagine Dragons and Kings of Leon. The last year has seen Havar retreat to refine their sound and write new material, and they plan to release their new EP in the summer of 2021.

Havar work closely with producer Martin Quinn (Ham Sandwich, Aine Cahil, Eurovision – “The Voice”) to create their unique indie sound. They’ve also worked with producer King Tut (Jessie J, Professor Green) and mastering engineer Jonas Westling (Lady Gaga, Newton Faulkner) on some of their tracks. 

To date, Havar have amassed over a quarter of a million streams on Spotify. In 2018, Eoghan McDermott chose Havar’s first single release, ‘Say Goodbye’, as his “Song of the Week” on 2FM, leading to numerous radio plays throughout the UK and Ireland in 2019.

‘Frozen Flowers’ is a somber alternative rock song with country influences. The song touches on the themes of uncertainty, feelings of being lost and searching for yourself in others. It opens with rhythmic acoustic guitar, a steady electronic beat and folky backing vocals. Twinkling electric guitars and pianos drop in throughout, building to a rousingly melancholic rock outro.

Havar releases ‘Frozen Flowers’ worldwide on all streaming platforms at 00:00 Irish time, Friday the 26th of February 2021.

Following on from her successful debut album ‘The Secret Life of Blue’ in 2012, Róisín O has gone on to release a number of hugely successful singles including hits ‘Give It Up’ and ‘Warn Me of Silence’, as well as her version of Sia’s ‘Chandelier,’ which received millions of views online.

A project of passion with the band Thanks Brother began in 2018, garnering a massive fan base and a hugely successful EP release in 2019 which included the singles; ‘We Are Different’, ‘We Caught It’ and ‘F*ck My Life’, while also playing to massive crowds in the The 3 Arena, Electric Picnic and more.

But it was the 2020 lockdown that brought O back to her roots, using the timeout from the constant touring and recording to reset. After receiving a huge response to her cover of Selena Gomez’ ‘Lose You To Love Me’ in June, as well as her involvement in the No.1 single ‘Dreams’ with Irish Women in Harmony, Róisín’s resolve to return to her solo career was cemented.

‘Heart + Bones’, released today, is the 1^st of 4 tracks born from the lockdown and is just a taste of Róisín O’s upcoming EP. 

Written with Danny O’Reilly (The Coronas) while in isolation in Dingle, ‘Heart + Bones’ powerful lyrics, combined with Roisin’s undeniable strength as a vocalist makes it her most remarkable single to date. 

Produced by Philip Magee, (Kodaline, Wild Youth, The Script, Miles Kane, The Academic, Calum Scott, JC Steward) ‘Heart + Bones’ soars effortlessly, constantly building, as Róisín O belts out the poignant lyrics in a powerful performance that hooks you from start to finish. 

“It’s a song I was supposed to write a very long time ago and never did. 
It’s a confession, a truth that I’d been suppressing for a long time. 
It’s the most honest thing I’ve ever written.” – Róisín O

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Those Nervous Animals started making music together in 1981. Forty years later the Sligo-based band is about to release their first complete studio album, ‘The Mission Sessions’, consisting of songs from early days and from every decade since, the most recent material recorded remotely during the first Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. The core band consists of singer and instrumentalist Barry Brennan, bassist and arranger Eddie Lee and guitarist and songwriter Pádraig Meehan. On this project they are joined by Susan Rowland on vocals and by percussionist/sound engineer/drummer Tom Jamieson.

Those Nervous Animals were just a little bit unusual among new Irish bands of the 1980’s; they mixed blue-eyed soul, funk and indie into an uncategorizable whole. Producer Bill Whelan, excited by the band’s audacious approach (and assisted by engineer Philip Begley), helped shape the adventurous arrangements of TNA into something more radio-friendly, giving rise to two singles, ‘Just What the Sucker Wanted’ and ‘The Business Enterprise (My Friend John)’ between 1983 and 1984. A spate of sell-out gigs, major festival appearances, a mini-album (‘Hyperspace!’), a couple more singles and huge music industry interest followed. Producers Donal Lunny and Nicky Ryan also worked with the band (Donal produced ‘Damien’ in 1986; around the same time Nicky worked on the first demo of ‘He Can’t Resist A Mystery’), who were notably energetic and creative both in studio and in their live shows. Over the decades that followed the band members pursued various other paths, occasionally coming together for one off gigs and – in the early 1990’s – a tour and single, ‘Rocket Ship’. Again in the early noughties came a new set of Those Nervous Animals’ recordings and shows, including work with keyboardist and producer Trevor Knight.

In early 2020 a worldwide pandemic and subsequent lockdown found the Nervous Animals in both a retrospective and a very contemporary mood. ‘The Mission Sessions’ refers to a famous Georgian house in Union Place, Sligo (nicknamed “The Mission”), where the very earliest rehearsals were held and where some members lived for a period in the 1980’s. The house – and entire historic neighbourhood – was lost to road building at the turn of the 20th century. The songs on ‘The Mission Sessions’ unconsciously capture a changing Ireland over four decades. Listening to ‘The Mission Sessions’, you are time-travelling inside songs remarkably prophetic of boom and bust, wins and losses, various dramatic cultural shifts—but some ageless sense of wonder is vibrant within these grooves too.

To meld diverse elements and sounds from across the decades, the group enlisted the help of Colorado-based mastering engineer David Glasser, whose work includes the restoration of materials from the birth of sound recording for the Smithsonian Folkways collection and also The Grateful Dead back catalogue. Glasser’s virtuoso remastering of songs like ‘The Business Enterprise (My Friend John)’ and ‘Damien’ gives them a new polish and detail and miraculously matches the dynamics of the newly recorded material.

The most recent recordings feature many familiar elements for people who know the work of the band; the vocals of Barry and Susan, Pádraig Meehan on guitar and Eddie Lee on bass (both Padraig and Eddie contribute treatments, sequencing and occasional vocals). Tom Jamieson is on drumming duties, and Seamie McGowan plays guitar. Nichola MacEvilly (vocals) contributes to the new recordings as does ex David Bowie sideman Gerry Leonard on Transatlantic guitar and mixing duties. The artwork for the album was done by a team consisting of designer Niall McCormack and Maria Murray (who designed the original ‘My Friend John’ single cover).

Bassist Eddie Lee sums up the sentiments involved in the making of the record: “Our biggest regret, looking back to the 80’s, was not that we didn’t become pop stars, I don’t think any of us were really cut out for that. It was not getting to make that album, as we always believed strongly in the originality and beauty of the songs we wrote and arranged. We felt it would be a special piece of work; it is maybe a little ironic that it took a pandemic to finally allow it to see the light of day.”

Those Nervous Animals release ‘The Mission Sessions’ 26/03/2021. Single ‘The Business Enterprise (My Friend John) is out now.

thosenervousanimals.ie