Ceoltúr's Weekly Seisiún #1

Ceoltúr
Aug 3
8 min read

Updated: 7 days ago

There is no shortage of new music coming out of Ireland. There is, however, a shortage of time to listen to all of it.

That’s where Ceoltúr's Weekly Seisiún comes in. Every week, we’ll be digging through the new releases, picking out the songs worth talking about and, more importantly, actually sitting down and listening to them properly.

This week is a particularly good place to start. There’s indie rock, folk-punk, R&B, hip-hop, drill, house, techno, electronic pop and a fair bit in between. Some of these songs are instant hits. Some take a couple of listens. One or two left us scratching our heads.

That’s the fun of it. So, in no particular order, here are twelve new Irish releases that caught our ear this week.

Photo: Celia Croft

Florence Road, “7563”

Florence Road are getting to the point where you can feel something happening.

The Wicklow band have been steadily building momentum, and “7563” feels like another step towards the bigger stages they've clearly got their eye on. It’s a song about feeling lost and out of place, and that sense of uncertainty comes through without making the whole thing miserable. The guitars do a lot of the work here. They start fairly restrained before gradually opening up, giving Florence Road plenty of room to let the chorus fly. The vocals have that slightly raw, emotional quality that has become one of their strengths, and there’s enough grit around the edges to stop it becoming overly polished.

What I like most about “7563” is that it doesn't feel like a band trying to write a big song. It just happens to be one. Florence Road have always had that potential, but this feels like they're beginning to understand exactly what to do with it.

The Mary Wallopers, "Kit Kat Club"

Nobody in Ireland is making music quite like The Mary Wallopers.

“Kit Kat Club” is another wonderfully unhinged addition to the Dundalk band's catalogue, taking us on a trip through Berlin nightlife, London clubs, drink, drugs and all the other terrible decisions that tend to happen once the sun goes down.

It sounds exactly as you would hope. The accordion is flying around, the banjo is doing its thing, the bass keeps everything moving and, somewhere in the middle of all that, the song suddenly drops down and gives you a bit of breathing room before building back up again. That change of pace is probably my favourite part, and it also sounds like it would be absolute murder live.

Photo: @carmenjpeg on Instagram

Sei Green, "mountain"

There’s a lovely looseness to Sei Green. The Dublin duo of Ellen Sleator and Adam Garrett have been carving out a sound somewhere between psychedelic pop, soul, funk and disco, and “mountain” is probably the best example yet of what they're about.

The groove is the first thing that grabs you. It’s warm and summery without becoming one of those songs that sounds like it was written specifically to accompany a bottle of lager in an advertisement. There’s a bit more going on underneath it. The darker elements keep poking through, which gives the track some depth. The vocals work particularly well together too. There’s a softness to them, and they blend rather than compete.

“mountain” is one of those songs where you don't necessarily notice how well everything has been put together on the first listen.

Keanu the Pilot, "SHINE"

Irish hip-hop is in a very interesting place at the moment, and Keanu The Pilot is one of the artists making sure it doesn't all start sounding the same. “SHINE” is a good example of why.

There’s plenty of confidence here, but Keanu doesn't seem particularly interested in following the traditional rules of what a rap song should be. The production has plenty of texture, and there's a slightly unpredictable quality to the whole thing. It's not trying to be the cleanest or most technically perfect track you'll hear this week. It has personality instead, which is considerably harder to manufacture.

There’s a growing group of Irish artists experimenting with rap, trap and electronic production without simply copying what is happening elsewhere, and Keanu The Pilot belongs firmly in that conversation. “SHINE” feels like another piece of that puzzle.

Photo: @shanizzle on Instagram

Aby Coulibaly, "It's Too Late"

Aby Coulibaly is becoming one of those artists where you can usually tell within about ten seconds that you're listening to her.

“It's Too Late” is warm, relaxed and incredibly easy to like. There are reggae influences, hints of Senegalese music and a healthy dose of '90s R&B in there, but the song never feels like it's trying to show you how many influences it has. Everything sits together naturally. And then there’s Aby's voice. She has a way of sounding completely comfortable in a song. There’s no unnecessary pushing or over-singing. She knows exactly how much space to give a line.

Lyrically, the song is about moving on and choosing yourself, but it doesn't come across as some enormous empowerment anthem. It's much more casual than that. More: I've made my decision, and that's that. Which is probably the better attitude anyway.

SPOOKLET, "WHY? WHY? WHY?"

There is something very enjoyable about artists who refuse to make things easy for you.

“WHY? WHY? WHY?” is exactly the kind of title that makes you think you're either about to hear something very emotionally serious or something completely deranged. Possibly both.

SPOOKLET, a Dublin-based French-British artist sits comfortably in the more experimental end of Ireland's independent scene, where the rules around pop, electronic music and alternative songwriting are treated more like suggestions. The track has that feeling of somebody following an idea wherever it goes rather than stopping because they've reached the end of a conventional song structure.

And that's increasingly what I want from new music. Not everything needs to be instantly understandable. Sometimes a song should make you go: What the hell was that? And then you press play again.

Local Boy, "Crypto"

The title alone tells you quite a bit. “Crypto” takes one of the most irritating subjects imaginable and turns it into a very laid-back indie song. Fair play.

Local Boy has always had a knack for making things sound effortless, and this is no exception. The guitars are loose, the bass has a nice bounce to it and the whole thing has that slightly scruffy charm that makes indie music work when it's done properly. There’s humour in it too. Thankfully, the song doesn't spend three minutes explaining the joke. It just lets the ridiculousness of the subject matter sit there.

The production has a nice shimmer to it, but it never gets too glossy. It's a very easy song to enjoy.

Just don't ask me to explain cryptocurrency afterwards.

Travy, "Keep Up"

“Keep Up” does exactly what it says on the tin. It's quick, aggressive and doesn't hang around.

Travy has been making noise around the Dublin rap scene for a while now, and this feels like a track designed to remind people not to sleep on him. The production is hard and drill-influenced, with plenty of space for Travy to get stuck into the bars. He sounds comfortable over it too, which is important. There’s no sense that he's trying to force himself into a particular style.

The best thing about it is probably the lack of fat. There are plenty of rap songs that could lose 30 seconds and improve dramatically. “Keep Up” doesn't have that problem. It arrives, kicks the door in and leaves.

Photo: Rich Gilligan

Sorcha Richardson, "Ellen Forever"

This one needs a quiet room.

“Ellen Forever” came out of a conversation between Sorcha Richardson and her friend Ellen about songwriting and how Richardson was feeling about her own work. Richardson wrote part of the song on the journey home afterwards. That makes sense when you hear it.

There’s an intimacy to the whole thing that makes it feel less like a traditional singer-songwriter track and more as if you've accidentally walked into a conversation you probably shouldn't be hearing.

The guitar is gentle. The double bass gives it just enough weight. Richardson's voice does the rest.

And lyrically, it hits that horrible feeling of being told you're doing well when you don't really believe it yourself. That’s a very specific emotion, which is exactly why it works.

Sorcha Richardson has always been very good at taking small, ordinary moments and finding the bigger feeling hiding inside them. “Ellen Forever” might be one of her best examples.

Aaron Rowe, "Hollywood Sign"

The Hollywood sign is supposed to represent making it.

Aaron Rowe's new song is more interested in asking what happens when you actually start chasing it.

“Hollywood Sign” comes from the loneliness of being away from home, particularly while touring. There’s a very familiar tension in that: you're doing the thing you've always wanted to do, but you're also missing the people you'd rather be with. It's a good subject for Rowe because he doesn't oversell it.

The song is fairly stripped back, with guitar and vocals doing most of the work, and that suits it.

A bigger production would probably have ruined it. The sadness is much more effective when it feels like someone sitting down and admitting that the dream isn't quite as glamorous as they expected.

There's no dramatic breakdown.

Just homesickness.

Photo: Polocho

Basht., "TERROR TV"

Basht make music that sounds like it needs to be played loudly. “TERROR TV” is no exception.

The Dublin post-punk band are taking aim at the constant stream of horrible news we're all exposed to through our screens, and they've sensibly decided that the appropriate musical response is to make something loud, abrasive and slightly uncomfortable. There’s an anxious energy running through the track. The guitars feel like they're about to come apart, while the rhythm keeps pushing everything forward.

It's not exactly relaxing, but then again, neither is opening Twitter (for which it will forever be known) at 8am.

Basht are particularly good at turning frustration into something physical. You don't necessarily sit down and analyse a song like this. You shout along to it, then you go home with your ears ringing.

Ejeca, "TomTom"

Right, enough words. Let's dance.

Belfast electronic artist Ejeca has been making club music for long enough to know exactly how much you need and how much you don't. “TomTom” is a short, fast electronic track that gets straight to the point. Released through Gudu Records, it arrives alongside “Glyder” and sits firmly in the sort of territory designed for dark rooms and people who have stopped checking the time.

It has that hypnotic quality good club tracks need: repetition without boredom, momentum without feeling rushed. At around 161 BPM, it isn't exactly Sunday-afternoon listening.

Unless your Sunday afternoons are considerably more exciting than mine.

There is a temptation, particularly from outside Ireland, to talk about Irish music as though it is one thing.

Folk. Trad. Guitars. Maybe a fiddle if we're feeling adventurous.

That's nonsense. Listen to what is actually being made here.

There's folk music being dragged into clubs. There's R&B taking in influences from across the world. There's a thriving rap scene. There's indie music getting bigger without losing its rough edges. There are producers making club music for rooms in Dublin, Belfast and everywhere else, while Irish artists continue to find audiences far beyond the island.

And then there are bands like The Mary Wallopers, who are perfectly happy to make all of that distinction seem completely pointless.

That's what makes Irish music exciting at the moment. It isn't one scene; it's dozens of them bumping into each other.

And we'll be here next week, listening to the fallout.

Until then: mind yourself, mind your ears, and don't trust anyone who says they only listen to one genre.