As we move into March, we look back the best new music from February. Aaron Cunningham and Ben Magee select some of their favourite releases of the month, including cover artist Fontaines D.C,, all handily found in our rotating playlist.
Fontaines D.C. – I Love You
Is it Fontaines’ best track since Roy’s Tune? Probably. Elements of The Cure and protest songwriting bleed into this slow builder. Frontman Grian Chatten is on fire throughout, with some of his best lyricism to date. Lined with references to Irish and international tragedy, the new single from the band’s third album has them back on track. BM
Just Mustard – Still
Just Mustard’s latest melds the industrial with the ethereal, settling into a hypnotic dreamscape. Tension falls in and out as Katie Ball’s vocals seem to care little for the injections of Gilla Band reminiscent guitar stabs and noise. AC
April – Hotel
April goes energetic pop on her next major label release. Contemporary production and writing keeps things fluid and fast, with imagery laden lyricism showing the songwriter’s potential on full display. Wouldn’t feel out of place on every national radio station in the world this one. BM
CMAT – Every Bottle Is My Boyfriend
CMAT embodies The Fear on her latest. The last single to drop ahead of her much-anticipated debut, the country swing meets alt-rock chop and pop melodies. As witty as always in both vernacular and diction, lines like “I think about a joke that didn’t land” stick with you long after the track is done. BM
Paddy Hanna – New York Sidewalk
A rolling little number with a retro feel. Little touches of piano follows Hanna’s falsetto backing. A song that sits somewhere between Nick Drake and Lou Reed, as its folk pop sound lifts with some lush brash and nimble percussion. All alluringly idiosyncratic. AC
Sinead O’Brien – Holy Country
‘Holy Country’ comes from O’Brien’s forthcoming debut album Time Bend and Break The Bower. Opening with an outlaw toned acoustic entrance, the track quickly breaks into a smattering of confrontational electronica and post-punk, guided by a spoken word deceleration of intent from the singer. BM
Robocobra Quartet – Night
The other side of their new double single, ‘Night’ is the slow and considered track. Where ‘Heaven’ is immediate, ‘Night’ slowly wades through intimate drumming and brushes and a quieter atmosphere that shows the group’s less punk leanings. Exceedingly noir. AC
Ye Vagabonds – Blue Is The Eye
Beautiful folk arrangements are the norm but there’s still something magnetic about every new Ye Vagabnds track. Instantly transportive to misty fields, cloud swaddled peaks and cold valleys awash in winter sunlight, the Irish folk duo deliver a masterclass in melding contemporary and traditional Irish music. Deceptively complex, pitching, sheer, uncompromisingly good music. BM
Dirty Dreamer – Piano 39
Trading soft-pop vocals sit atop a bed of analogue and digital. The three-piece’s latest track creates an atmospheric and complicated mix of sounds led by piano and a persistent but muted beat. AC
Ugolino – Three Stripes
A follow up to last year’s debut single, ‘Three Stripes’ leans more heavily into jazz. While vocalist Shane Richardson grapples with issues in modern day Ireland in spoken word, the Hollywood jazz simmers below, from improvised solos to the washes of vintage movie soundtrack strings. AC
Laurie Shaw – The Great Southern
A gothic take on the indie landscape, The Great Southern channels Nick Cage and drone-folk. Woozy production falls in and out of focus, music to duel your enemy to. BM
Niamh Regan ft Ciaran Lavery – Winter in Eden
The third single from Regan’s upcoming EP, ‘Winter in Eden’ is soft, lyrical folk that’s the result of Whatsapp and Zoom collaborations between the two songwriters. A poetic vignette about the content period in a relationship. AC
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