This sounds like Donald Glover playing guitar 2 rooms down under a tarpaulin. Some splendid moments, but too fragmented to grab hold of.

In the 2020 album "Good Luck, Seeker" by Mike Scott, aka The Waterboys, there was a blues pop track about the Hollywood actor "Dennis Hopper". Hopper had become somewhat of a muse for Scott since he saw a photo exhibition of Hopper's photography in London in the mid 2010s. Before he knew it, he had written 2 more Hopper songs, thought to be an EP, ballooned into a 25-track hour long album. The research took Scott down 4 biographies and through reams of poetry and ... read more

"Dear Life" finds Gray creatively fulfilled on his 13th studio album. In the 4 years since his last album, the isolatory "Skellig" inspired by the County Kerry Island, Gray has been travelling with the 50 night "White Ladder 20th Anniversary" tour. Gray has shared that "revisiting those songs was a reminder of the classic songcraft and electronic undercurrent that made them so memorable" which seems to have been the inspiration for his poppiest sound in ... read more

2025 has a new British power couple; last Friday the Nicole Kidman led "Babygirl" opened in cinemas playing opposite British actor Harris Dickinson (who previously starred in the Triangle of Sadness). One week later his childhood friend and girlfriend Rose Gray is releasing her debut album "Louder, Please".

From the North London town of Walthamstow: Gray has been a pop missionary since she dropped out of college to pursue music and released her first single back in 2019. ... read more

It took 9 months of songwriting in a house in Wexford during the pandemic for The Murder Capital to finish their sophomore album "Gigi's Revenge". For its follow-up, "Blindness", the turnaround time was much more impressive - 10 days. The band have spread themselves out between Donegal, London and Berlin - and these individually led lives may have been a contributor to their boon of creativity.
When they reunited in Dublin to write after the end of their tour, they ... read more

It feels like, once a year, the Guardian runs an article on why there are no new bands anymore. The cause is touted to be a sum of several changes; social media favours solo facing accounts, the thin margins of touring can't withstand being divided amongst several people etc. People are anxious about the individualization of rock music in the future. But when you hear Sam Fender's third album, “People Watching”, you may agree that he, for all intents and purposes, is a ... read more

Tate McRae has become a premium pop dupe, taking on songs sounding like Billie, Olivia and Selena. But for album three she is doubling down, duping the sounds of y2k pop, and hoping this is her ticket to main pop girl status.

"So Close To What" is her third album in as many years, but the graft started way back. She won her first international dance award at the age of 10, this opened doors to the Berlin State Ballet and performances with Justin Bieber. By 13, she had finished ... read more

They say don't meet your idols, you'll only be disappointed. But that does not seem to be the case for Americana rocker Brandi Carlile, who has teamed up with her songwriting raison d'etre, Elton John, for a full collaborative album. Carlile made echoes on these shores back in 2007, when a cover of her song "The Story" appeared in the musical episode of Grey's Anatomy, covered by Sara Ramirez. Since then, she has become a critical darling, amassing 11 Grammy's ... read more

When you're 55 years into an illustrious career, like Christy Moore, you can kinda do what you want. On his 23rd studio album "A Terrible Beauty", Christy collates some of his favorite songs, mostly by other artists and covers them, providing some lyrical tweaks along the way. The album serves as a sort of state of the nation address of the last 5 years, addressing such events as the death of Derry journalist Lyra McKee in 2019, When Sky Sports presenter Rob Wotton confronted ... read more

The seventh album from the Wicklow folk singer sees him relocate to Mallorca; a place he describes as his "true north" a place filled with what Regan describes has "artistic energy..[when] you step back a little from the main drag of bigger cities". Regan bottles the Balearic island's magic into these 11 songs, some of which are named after their natural source of inspiration: "Teix Mountains", the small towns of "Deia" or "Llucalcari". ... read more

The boy who never grows up is here with his 8th studio album, and it's time he finally faces his future.

Released on a Monday so that fans could take the time on their commutes or at their desks to listen-through several in times in full, Tyler is eager that fans hear the duality he presents in Chromakopia. Stylised with a series of sepia videos of military imagery and Tyler in a mask, Tyler plays with taking the mask off and putting it back on at-will throughout the record. There are the ... read more

The long-awaited 14th album by the English rockers is here. Fans have had to wait 16 years since the last full length Cure offering. But not only that, this album has been teased and tweaked for years. Originally scheduled for release in 2019, many of the tracks on the album have already been played live on The Cure's "Shows Of A Lost World" tour. Maybe the first time a tour has preceded an album. The delay by all accounts appears to be on the shoulders of Smith who has altered ... read more

In an interview with Zane Lowe on a beach in Sandycove, Dublin – amidst the “Music Of The Spheres Tour” which arrived in the Aviva stadium in August, Chris Martin shared that Coldplay will only release 12 “proper” albums. Inspired by the likes of The Beatles and Bob Marley, who amassed studio albums in similar numbers, Martin has stated he wanted to “limit quality control”. Today, they release album 10 of 12; “Music Of The Spheres: Vol II: Moon ... read more

While many Radiohead fans may be looking at a sign that says, "It has been __8__ years since the last Radiohead album", Thom Yorke seems to be in a spree of creativity. Having provided music for Italian director Daniele Luchetti's 2024 indie movie "Confidenza", Yorke has also had time to release, not 1, but 2, albums with his three-piece alternative rock/jazz outfit The Smile. Maybe Yorke's most impressive run of output since the 7 month gap between "Kid ... read more

Since the release of her debut full length album in August 2021, things appear to have blossomed for Gartland. A 2019 single entitled "Why Am I Like This?" found popularity following its inclusion in the Netflix teen romance "Heartstopper"; it now boasts her highest stream tally. She joined forces with musicians Dodie, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown to form The Fizz, a collaboration which came together in "a whirlwind of pure joy and escapism, inverting everything ... read more

According to lead singer Mark Foster, this album is "a case study of the late ’70s crossover between disco, funk, gospel, jazz", not only the mechanics of each of those genres, but also the political context that formed them; "giant recession in the Seventies, the political turmoil post-Vietnam, and other major tensions". This album focuses on what these genres aimed to do, which was create joy as an act of defiance.

The album artwork, a smorgasbord of classical ... read more

The third album by the British singer-songwriter arrives at a time of great maturing. “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” is her third album in the 5 years since she landed on the coveted BBC Sound Of 2020 list. Since then her career has been on a steady incline; she has been honing her live act across 4 tours, both sides of the pond, and on supporting slots for the 1975, Halsey & Taylor Swift, she achieved her first Top 40 hit in the UK with the summery piano infused “Glue ... read more

For his sixth studio album, Austin Richard Post has left Hollywood Hills hip-hop behind and has donned the belt buckle of Nashville country. The hints were there that country was in him; the plaid shirts and cowboy hats have always been in the Posty aesthetic; he has fit in naturally as a featured artist on songs by Noah Kahan and, maybe most crucially, in 2015 he tweeted he would become a country singer at the age of 30. Having turned 29 in July, he is one year ahead of schedule.

He has ... read more

In retrospective, Sucker is more of a middle finger than a kicked-down door. Charli hasn't found her persona as she emulates attitude in all its forms, but none feel authentic . Cheesy, bubblegum, sugary, but also sometimes cringe. With gems like "Famous" and "Need Ur Luv" the pop polymath she will be known as peeks through.

2024 has already seen the ascension of 2 stars who have been supporting large stadium tours; Sabrina Carpenter's chokehold of the top 2 positions of the Irish charts may not have been possible without regular appearances at the Eras tour in the US last year, and the rise of Chappelle Roan was made more meteoric by accompanying Olivia Rodrigo on tour around the US. With Olivia's "Guts" tour in Europe, and Chappelle's star growing each week, it leaves a slot in ... read more