Every year Generator NI selects a number of stand-out artists for their Talent Development programme. Once selected these artists receive guidance and support from the programme, as well as numerous opportunities. Last year’s list of artists consisted of The Emerald Armada, Emma Horan, Triona Carville, The Clameens, More Than Conquerors, Silences and Ciaran Lavery. Some of the successes over the last year included The Emerald Armada playing festival dates in India and Silences partnering with Tourism Ireland to create the music video for ‘The Sea’.
The acts for 2015/16 once again feature a host of talent including a number of Chordblossom favourites.
► Jealous of the Birds
The delightfully named Jealous of the Birds, aka Naomi Hamilton showcased the power of great songs first and foremost. A few months ago, her social media pages appeared along with six track EP, ‘Capricorn’. It’s a stunning collection of songs that has lead to a lot of buzz. Hamilton made her debut supporting Silences at a Chordblossom show, and has barely stopped since.
► Jessica Doherty
Despite her youth and relatively new status on the scene, Jessica Doherty already has an impressive CV. Performances at Glasgowbury, Stendhal and Other Voices festival have been further supplemented by supports for the likes of Janet Devlin and Rainy Boy Sleep. Considering her musical talents, her success so far seems well deserved.
► Pleasure Beach
Pleasure Beach, along with Jealous of the Birds, are one of the newest acts on the Talent Development programme. Emerging mere months ago, the band have released one single, ‘Go’, playing a headline launch at Queen’s Bar Sub. It’s early days for the dream-pop five-piece but there’s a lot more to come from them.
► Robocobra Quartet
Robocobra Quartet appeared last year with little fanfare, but for most of 2015 it’s been hard to escape them. The band have played some big shows and had a host of promoters clamouring to book them. How do they sound? It’s hard to say. The band describe their unique talents as Low Brow/High Brow Free-Punk.
► In An Instant
The band from Bangor rarely fail to impress with their live performances. They first caught our eye as they won Chordblossom’s very own Kickstart competition last year, after wowing at the final showcase. Since then the band with a penchant for big choruses and polished production have played the likes of Stendhal and Spectrum Festival.
► Loris
Loris, with their evolving brand of electropop, have been quickly rising to the top of NI artists to keep your eye on. Another Chordblossom favourite the band has gone from strength to strength since their emergence last year, playing at Brighton’s Great Escape festival and having ‘Yeah’ playlisted on BBC Radio 1. Now with the addition of Mojo Fury’s Michael Mormecha Loris can only get better.
