A&R Department: Kynsy, Cosha, PostLast and more

Irish-Dutch outfit Fräulein are in seriously funky form on ‘Pruning’, the lead cut from their Sink Or Swim mini-album which follows on June 14.

Joni Samuels and Karsten van der Toi – no prizes for guessing which half of the duo is Nederlandse – are signed to London independent Submarine Cat Records who’ve clearly succumbed to their Belly-ish charms.

The label has also stumped up for an excellent video which finds an angel-winged Joni roaming around central London.

If you happen to be in Nashville on July 9, they’re playing a special launch show at Jack White’s The Blue Basement @ Third Man Records…

Three shit hot Irish rappers for the price of one is the deal as Flynn Johnson, Wallfella and hikii team up on ‘MULA’, which boasts a tripped-out MF DOOM-y beat and some seriously dextrous wordplay…

Having joined forces as PostLast, Julie Hough from HAVVK and former BARQ man Stephen McHale bring us ‘Connect 4’, a bright, breezy and (in a good way) quirky slice of alt-pop which suggests that they’re on to a collaborative winner…

After a period of relative quiet Kynsy returns with ‘Money’, a peach of a song written and recorded in her bedroom with producer extraordinaire Caesar Edmunds making it sound like she was in Abbey Road.

“I’ll be okay”, the Dubliner insists on a woozily addictive song that we suspect Phoebe Bridgers fans will lap up.

It’s the first fruits of her liaison with Nice Swan Records, the London label who brought you SPRINTS and English Teacher’s early releases…

Cosha ups the ante with ‘Glow’, a dreamy slice of R&B, which trails her new MurMurs EP.

Born in Indiana, raised in Wicklow and now residing in London, The Artist Also Known As Cassia O’Reilly collaborated on the cover with Vogue snapper Vióar Logi and has upcoming shows in the Workman’s Cellar, Dublin (May 28) and The Lower Third, Soho, London (31)…

Cosha by Viðar Logi.

Róisín El Cherif switches effortlessly between Irish, English and Arabic on ‘Siúl a Rúin’, her version of a trad song that used to feature in Clannad’s repertoire.

All proceeds from the release will be donated directly to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders’ Gaza Emergency Regional Fund.

“What links these two cultures for me is grief and perseverance,” Róisín reflects. “I find great solace in the traditional music of both lands and it felt easy for me to blend and combine them”…

The Palestinian solidarity doesn’t end there with Elaine Mai, MayKay, Faye O’Rourke, Rand, Rwand, Reem, Sara Omar and Ahmed collaborating on ‘We Are’, a swooping, soaring 6mins 37secs epic which has been put together under the Irish Artists For Palestine banner.

“The very first feeling I had after Elaine played me the children’s voices was hope,” O’Rourke says of the sampled Gazan youngsters. “In a world marred by division and discourse, to me this song serves as a little mantra towards the light. It’s an honour to be a small part of such a beautiful collaboration.”

The song benefits the Lajee Centre, a refuge open to all Palestinians in the Bethlehem area. Find out about the work they do at lajee.org…

Former Come On Live Long man Dotts O’Connor channels his inner Van Morrison on ‘Brushing Off The Rust’, a folk song with a Latino lilt and the support of John Creedon and his RTÉ Radio 1 colleagues.

Dotts O'Connor

Recorded in Wicklow’s Meadow studio, the supporting players have Jape, James Vincent McMorrow, Meltybrains, Loah and Heroes In Hiding on their collective CV…

It’s Irish supergroup time as assorted members of Bleeding Heart Pigeons, His Father’s Voice and Cruiser join forces as The PVP and bring us ‘Track 94’, a hypnotic slo-mo affair which had us jotting The Fall, Sonic Youth and Spiritualized down in our notebooks.

It takes a couple of spins but, believe us, you will be hooked…

A&R Dept. favourites Dylan Flynn and the Dead Poets kick it up a gear with ‘not waiting anything’, their finest four minutes yet which sounds like a rootsier War On Drugs.

Recorded in their native Limerick with Windings man Mike Gavin producing and WAV Mastering’s Richard Dowling adding an extra sprinkling of sonic stardust, it tells a tale of loss, emigration and addiction which is sadly all too prevalent these days.

It’s the third track to be lifted from their caught up in delusion EP, which follows on May 31 and already has BBC Radio NI’s Gemma Bradley – “I’m absolutely obsessed,” she says – in a lather.

With a million streams and recent NewDad and Kingfishr supports under their collective belts, the quintet are fast reaching a point of critical mass.