- Music
- 03 Mar 16
The Dublin quintet star on our special flip-cover as they return with their sophomore album Ephemera, changed by tragedies and turmoil over the past three years. They tell Colm O’Regan of introspection, isolation, and the reward of sharing their strife through music
Ephemera isn’t your normal second album — but then, Little Green Cars aren’t your normal band.
Three years after Absolute Zero announced their arrival with an almighty bang, the Dublin group return with an album fuelled by the turmoil of the past few years; in the new Hot Press, they reveal what happened in between.
“Shortly after we’d finished Absolute Zero, my father passed away,” explains guitarist Adam O’Regan. “Two or three weeks later, we went on our first tour of the States; after the album came out, we were back there five or six times, as well as Russia, Australia, Europe and so on. It’s not easy to grieve in the middle of a travelling circus. It’s not a comfortable place to mourn.”
During the same period, frontman Stevie Appleby lost his grandmother; little surprise, then, that their second record bristles with introspective intensity.
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“People think writing is the therapeutic part,” Stevie says. “It’s not. Writing it means that it materialises. Rather than getting rid of that horrible feeling, it’s now sitting next to you, poking you in the ribs. But playing it to the band, and playing it together? That’s when it dissipates. And then, to have someone say that it meant a lot to them — to go through pain, but bring someone joy — means that bitter taste is gone. Suddenly, it just feels worthwhile.”
To read the full interview, including the band’s thoughts on being lumped into the nu-folk category and why they already have one eye on nostalgia, pick up a copy of the brand new Hot Press, on sale now.
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