A & R Department: Yuné Pinku, Chubby Cat, Sinéad Harnett and more

The general consensus among delegates, media and punters is that Irish acts excelled at this year’s Eurosonic festival in northern Holland.

Hot Press was there and got its first live look at Yunè Pinku, the Irish-Malaysian artist who followed hotly-tipped English neo-soul man Elmiene in the Grand Theatre.

Announcing her arrival with last year’s Babylon 1X EP, she performs solo surrounded by a geeky collection of synths and sequencers. If Massive Attack ever deign to make new music again, the 20-year-old has to be top of their collaborators list with her treated vocals redolent of the Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser at her most blissed-out.

Musically, we’re talking house, garage and occasionally banging techno shot through with Radiohead-style experimentation. With her beguiling stage presence and abundant production skills, there’s going to be no stopping her in 2024.

yuné pinku by Leandra Heler.

We were also down the front for Chubby Cat, the Cork singer who’s been in Hot Press’ A&R Dept. so regularly that she could claim squatter’s rights.

It was a big gig for the young BIMM graduate and she royally rose to the occasion. Equal parts pop, indie, R&B, dance and torch singer - she really is a musical chameleon – Ms. Doran exudes charisma and is going to be a star.

Chubby Cat by Aislinn McGinn

Annoying Hot Press’ neighbours this week in SPIDER, the Dublin-born, London-based singer whose new ‘daisy chains’ single is designed to be played LOUD!

The first taster from the upcoming object of desire EP, it’s punky, funky and poppy in equal measures with the 22-year-old declaring: “I like to chase and I hear that you’re a runner.”

The follow up to last year’s even more fast and furious ‘straight out the oven!’ – SPIDER wastes no time telling us to “all go fuck yourselves!” – it’ll be getting a live airing on March 20 when she makes her headlining debut in London’s Camden Assembly.

The A&R Dept. is in no doubt that it’s the start of something very special…

Sinéad Harnett whets appetites for her upcoming Boundaries album with ‘Saying Something’, an impossibly gorgeous song that highlights her silken soul voice. Born in London to a Thai mother and an Irish father, she came to prominence over ten years ago when she was one of the featured artists on Rudimental’s Home album.

Also collaborating with the likes of Wiley, Kaytranada and Ryan Hemsworth, Harnett’s solo career has been a bit of a slow-burner but this new long-player could catapult her to the same heights as her heroes Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill.

Following on from last year’s excellent YOU album, Dublin rapper GNS releases the similarly titled but unconnected ‘imadeYOUaboutYou’.

A vibrant tale of rejection, self-discovery and liberation, it’s beautifully put together and throws some Afrobeats into the otherwise hip hop mix.

The Malawian-born, Dun Laoghaire-based up and comer previously impressed with his ‘Logic Of Your Peace’ and ‘Stay/Leave’ tracks, which also boast luscious rhythms and, on the latter, some deftly-played acoustic guitar.

If it’s frenzied fuzz box riffs, hypnotic basslines and anthemic vocals you’re after, look no further than the debut single from Gonzo Fever, a London-based Irish trio who one assumes are Hunter S. Thompson fans.

The song in question, ‘Scream’, has a Bono meets Bowie vocal and a seriously psychedelic wig out as it enters its forth and concluding minute. Excellent stuff.

Billy Joel, Gilbert O’Sullivan and Dean Friedman are just a few of the names that sprung to mind when we heard ‘What’s It Like In LA?’, the first single from Colm Gavin’s sophomore Diggin’ The Idleflower album.

The 28-year-old Dubliner has been picked up by BEO Records, the Dublin independent which also has Moya Brennan on its roster. If they’re not already, RTÉ Radio One should be all over this like a rash.

Panikatax are the latest Dublin post-punk outfit to start making waves internationally. Trailing May’s A Sudden And Unpleasant Change EP, Rejection is a fearsome slab of noise albeit a tuneful one.

Northern Ireland alt. rockers Orchids impress with ‘Mannequin’, the latest single to be lifted from their self-titled debut album.

Another song that you should be turning the volume up to ‘11’ for, it features Sianna Ní Laithbheartaigh from queer punk rockers TRAMP on vocals. Exploring themes of sexualisation, sexual policing and violence towards women, it’s the textbook definition of righteous indignation and very, very good.

Telekura, the Stockholm-based duo comprising of former Lost Weekend-er Rachel Tan and Stephen Purcell of We Should Be Dead fame, conjure up the gorgeous shimmering electropop of ‘Clown’, which is about “fever dreams and nightmares.” Sounding like a cross between Dua Lipa and MGMT, it has us hungry for more.

If it’s a warm duvet of a song you’re after, look no further than ‘11249’, the hushed Lana Del Rey-esque new single from Fears, a.k.a. Constance Keane who also happens to be the M(h)aol drummer. Helping out on this latest taster from March 22’s Affinity album, it features fellow London Murphia members Ailbhe Reddy and Jemima Coulter. She brings it all back home on April 3 for a show in The Sugar Club with a London Oslo date lined up for May 1.

Read the full A&R Department – including On Our Radar Q&As with Coolgirl and Alfi – in the current issue of Hot Press: