Choice Music Prize: Revisiting The Shortlisted Albums

Fontaines D.C., Skinty Fia

...Tom Coll’s hip-hop inflected drumbeats, first unleashed on ‘You Said’ from A Hero’s Death, here reign supreme, much of the record rolling on his swing. Across Skinty Fia, the pulsing bass and drum patterns astonishingly evoke Roni’s Size & Reprazent’s New Forms or The Chemical Brothers’ Exit Planet Dust. ‘Nabokov’ contains flashes of the ’60s garage sound the band once possessed, that evokes The La’s, but is now doused in a Death In Vegas-style wash.

The phantom of Gilla Band still creeps about, guitarists O’Connell and Curley parrying their way through the chaotic abyss, executing the Blixa Bargeld role in Einstürzende Neubauten, and recalling the fashion in which Roland S. Howard wrenched back control of The Birthday Party.

A compound forms in Fontaines’ music – like a shadow guitarist manifesting in their sound: an ethereal being, evoking the Irish elk, that symbol of lost Ireland which looms over Skinty Fia.

Joyce reckoned that the shortest way to Tara, the ancient centre of Celtic civilisation, is through Holyhead. Fontaines D.C. seem to grasp that riddle, and as Joycean scholar Declan Kiberd ruminated, remain sincere not to a single self, but authentic to several. They are dignified amidst the grotesque. Mighty stuff.

(Full review here)

CMAT, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead

...While it might have been CMAT's comedic flair that first caught our attention, it’s her groundbreaking interpretation of pop that’s worth sticking around for, as her debut album, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, attests. She confidently walks the line between defiant messer and profound talent – but as with any larger-than-life personality, there’s a flip-side, with vulnerabilities to be excavated via a careful balance of both tenderness and irreverence. It’s these moments that provoke the most remarkable lyrics: "I feel bad, ‘cause I couldn’t cry when someone I grew up with died, but I break down everytime I’m on the scales…"

The influences are wide-ranging but never scattered, from touches of Italo-disco and Kate Bush on ‘No More Virgos’, to raw folk roots on ‘Geography Teacher’. In many respects, her music feels like the next natural evolution of outlaw country – despite an evidently deep respect for the legends of the genre, there’s a healthy disregard for the more traditionalist country music establishment too...

...[T]here’s nothing on this album to indicate that this is the Dublin artist’s first rodeo. If My Wife New I’d Be Dead is undoubtedly one of the most thrilling Irish pop debuts of the century – and behind the Rhinestone Cowboy glitz and glamour, it establishes CMAT as one of the most fearlessly introspective singer-songwriters to have emerged from these shores in years.

(Full review here)

Aoife Nessa Frances, Protector

...The lyrics are excellent. ‘Way To Say Goodbye’ greets the listener, immersing you in the Protector world. ‘This Still Life’ is reminiscent of a folkier Dido, synths adding a novel flavour. ‘Emptiness Follows’ leans into a jazzier element, while ‘Only Child’ boasts a stunning cacophony of unusual musical pairings, electric guitar and harp solos combining in beautiful chaos.

‘Back To Earth’ layers harmonies for a richer vocal. ‘Soft Lines’, masked by delicate guitar, is grittier underneath. Closing out the album, ‘Day Out Of Time’ jolts the listener with an unusual country-esque sound just in time to leave us curious.

Protector is part of the new wave of pared back, indie-folk emerging on the Irish scene. Long may it last.

(Full review here)

Just Mustard, Heart Under

...Just as The Stooges at times sounded like a distillation of the noise from the factories of Motor City, Just Mustard tap into the dissonance of a dystopian cosmopolis. On ‘I Am You’, vocalist Katie Ball – in a style reminiscent of Can’s Damo Suzuki – asks “Can you change my head?”

Guitarists David Noonan and Mete Kalyoncuoglu drone and hiss, and Shane Maguire’s primal drumming is seriously propulsive. Tellingly, the band cite David Lynch as an influence, and you can see why: several of the discordant, surrealist soundscapes on Heart Under have a decidedly Lynchian feel.

Comparisons to Seventeen Seconds-era Cure will also rightly be made, and there’s a good dollop of Aphex Twin in the mix as well. Regardless, the best advice is to quit the taxonomy, and explore the fresh territory this remarkable band are mapping. Heart Under is a thoroughly fascinating record.

(Full review here)

Dermot Kennedy, Sonder

...Consistently wearing his heart on his sleeve, effort #2 finds Dermot Kennedy expanding his approach to his earnest love songs, which are brimming with yearning and the urge to overcome barriers. Slick production emphasises his colossal voice, with his trademark gravelly tone oozing passion at every turn.

“At last call turn up the lights, I hope I treated you right,” he belts on ‘One Life’, an electronic beat boosting the rich chorus. Singles ‘Something To Someone’, ‘Better Days’ and ‘Kiss Me’ occasionally tread familiar ground, but ‘Innocence And Sadness’ goes back to basics, reminding the listener that no instrument can top Kennedy’s one-of-a-kind pipes. A subtle, delicate piano melody backs his diaristic, vulnerable lyrics, focusing on a loved one he tries to be good enough for: “The reason I stay, well, I need you today / Baby, I would bleed in your name”.

‘Any Love’ takes hold of the listener from the first note, textured electronics and harmonies elevating it to heavenly heights. Simultaneously intimate and massive, Kennedy’s soulful rasp is also faultless on ‘Divide’, ‘Homeward’, 'Dreamer’ and ‘Blossom’...

(Full review here)

The Mary Wallopers, The Mary Wallopers

Embracing a much bigger, full-bodied sound than the Dundalk group's 2019 EP, A Mouthful Of The Mary Wallopers, their self-titled debut was recorded in Dublin with Chris Barry. The producer, who’s previously worked with Maija Sofia, Junior Brother and Myles Manley, was key to helping recreate their raw live energy in the studio.

“He’s fucking great, and great craic,” Andrew says. “The atmosphere is so good when you’re recording with Chris. And when you’re having fun, it’s easier to relax and do something really live like that.

“Our biggest strength is definitely the live gigs,” he continues. “Even with TPM, the way we’ve learned music is just by doing gigs all the time. We’re actually not that used to recording, especially with The Mary Wallopers. But I think we captured our live energy – and the rowdiness – on this album.”

The alignment of folk music and social movements is nothing new, but in Ireland today, there’s arguably no other genre of music that’s taking such a solid anti-establishment stance.

“That’s why we added a verse to ‘The Frost Is All Over’ about landlords,” Andrew grins. “It’s worth saying it, and it’s worth subtly adding it into songs. We need more of that.”

(Full interview here)

Anna Mieke, Theatre

...Kudos to Black Mountain Recording – located on the Cooley Peninsula in Co. Louth, it’s a bastion of the flourishing Irish alt-folk scene. Prduced by Nick Rayner, this is a beautiful record. The percussion – from the bodhrán ending on ‘For A Time’ to the shimmering breakdown on ‘Coralline’ – is sublime. Equally, swathes of harmonium, fiddle, clarinet and saxophone are peppered throughout. The harp on ‘Red Sun’ is exquisite.

"You sense from Theatre that Mieke has seen the world, and then some. ‘Seraphim’ – channelling Pakistani qawwali, Malian kora, Brazilian samba and Senegalese Wolof – suggests she was paying more than a little attention. Elsewhere, she makes John Jacob Nile’s Appalachian folk classic ‘Go Away From My Window’ her own – some feat when Joan Baez and Linda Ronstadt are among the masters who have recorded it. A fine album.

(Full review here)

Pillow Queens, Leave The Light On

...Leave The Light On, their first release on Canadian label Royal Mountain Records, is a riveting experience from beginning to end; shining a light on everything from body image and imposter syndrome to loneliness and love. The distinctive Pillow Queens wall of beautiful guitar noise (aided by producer Tommy McLaughlin) escalates to another level of brilliance. Opening with gorgeous lead single ‘Be By Your Side’, Pamela Connolly’s relentlessly moving vocals are layered above rousing guitar riffs and a pulsating intensity.

'And I wanna feel/Every thought of you till my body drops dead,' she belts, injecting sincerity with every note. ‘Hearts & Minds’ captures the recurrence of teen insecurities following Pillow Queens’ rise to prominence. Referencing Jackson C. Frank, the song (along with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen-influenced ‘Delivered’) continues the quartet’s habit of using religious lexicon. It’s sure to be a belter at their live sets, with a muscular chorus.

The duality of Pillow Queens is ever-present in their enthralling lyricism. Somehow, Pillow Queens capture the need to fearlessly sing the words aloud at a gig - an exorcism of your worries - while also offering songs to shut the world out with...

(Full review here)

Sorcha Richardson, Smiling Like an Idiot

Surely there’s a story behind Sorcha Richardson's album title, Smiling Like An Idiot…

“That is the only time I’ve had the title for something before I wrote the song!” she laughs. “Usually I pick a title afterwards. It’s something my girlfriend said to me more than once, in a very kind of facetious way, like ‘Sorcha you’re smiling like an idiot again’, as a joke. The song itself also sums up what a lot of the album is about, you know? It’s the pursuit of happiness; trying to find a way to have a fulfilling life. I left Dublin when I was 18 and lived in New York for eight years.

“When I came home, I was very confused about how to be happy in Dublin. I couldn’t really find my way for a while. Now I absolutely love it and that’s honestly down to the people who I met a year or two after moving home. They completely changed my perception of Dublin and Ireland. That song is definitely the happiest and the most hopeful one. It has the least amount of tension.

“I thought the album was too positive and that nobody would relate to it. But then I started realising that some of the songs were about things like falling in love, but they were about the more anxious and fearful sides. Still, there’s an ease to ‘Smiling Like An Idiot’ that I really like. I knew that it would be the album title.”

(Full interview here)

THUMPER, Delusions of Grandeur

As you might expect from a band with two drummers and three guitarists, THUMPER don’t do anything by halves.

They know how to make a powerful racket – and they do. The Dublin-based outfit’s long-awaited debut album can only strengthen that burgeoning reputation: it is one of the most ambitious and arresting records you’ll hear all year. It is a bit of a magnum opus too: there’s the guts of an hour’s music to savour, featuring a fistful of exhilarating songs, and plenty of THUMPER-style knock-out blows...

Combining millennial angst and compulsive, turbo-driven guitar, THUMPER are at their best when they let their psych-tinged epics breathe – as they do on the brilliant one-time single, ‘Topher Grace’.

Don’t take my word for it. Delusions Of Grandeur is a record that rewards repeated plays. By the sixth time around, I realised that the speaker-shaking ‘25’ is a real game-changer. And it is not the only one here. So give it time. The rewards will be manifold.

(Full review here)

The RTÉ Choice Music Prize live event takes place tonight, March 9, at Vicar St in Dublin – featuring performances from Anna Mieke, Aoife Nessa Frances, Just Mustard, Pillow Queens and THUMPER.

Stayed tuned to hotpress.com and our social media platforms for all the coverage this evening...