December A&R Department: Chubby Cat, Shmoney Doll, Parker and more

A&R Dept. favourite Chubby Cat returns with a new EP, The Fine Art Of Disassociation, which highlights both her vocal prowess and knack for penning a memorable chorus.

Able to go from the proverbial whisper to a scream, the Corkonian BIMM graduate has been variously compared to Charlie XCX, Tove Lo and Pink Pantheress, but has her own electro pop thing going on.
A big hit at this year’s Eurosonic showcase festival in northern Holland, she was also one of RTÉ’s 2024 Rising Act picks; made it on to the Choice Prize Song of the Year shortlist with ‘Big Dog Barking’; was named Gay Times Breakthrough Artist for 2024; and, by dint of now being based in Belfast, is in the NI Music Prize Single of the Year running with ‘QUIET’. If you’re still not convinced after all of that, check out EP focus track, ‘Dear Diary, I Wanna Die’, which features some serious vocal gymnastics…

Coming on to the A&R Dept. radar for the first time is Shmoney Doll, a Dublin (t)rapper whose The Curation Of A Doll EP finds her shacking up in the studio with producers Eulogy, Becky McNeice and The SuperMann and ace engineer SlickBullet.

The result is a bassbin-rattling three-tracker, which has identity, resilience and self-empowerment as its main lyrical themes.

“I’ve been making music for three years now, but this is the first time I’ve truly felt at home in my sound,” she notes…

The trad, folk and roots renaissance gathers apace with Pauline Scanlon, Nicola Joyce from The Whileaways, Eoin Wynn and Fabian Joyce joining forces as The Half Room and releasing a self-titled debut album this month, which is yours for a tenner from thehalfroom.bandcamp.com.

With rotating vocalists and virtuoso guitar-playing, it’s a gorgeous collection of songs which journeys from the battlefields of Flanders to the turbulent seas of Lisbon – with all the imagery and romanticism that conures up.

Catch them live in the Island Music Club, Crusheen (November 30); The Venue, Kilconly (December 29); and Madden’s Upstairs, Belfast (January 5)…

Drogheda duo Dabilla – yep, they’re named after the goddess Boan’s faithful dog – give John Martyn’s classic ‘I Don’t Want To Know About Evil’ a powerful makeover using both uillean pipes and a shitload of electronics.

It follows on from 2023’s well-received Bru EP and show-stealing appearances at both the Temple Bar Trad Fest and Fleadh Cheoil…

Get ready to be beguiled as well by Cormorant Tree Oh, the Dublin experimentalist who also answers to the name of Mary Keane.

Developing her sound over the past five years – think woodwind woodlands, mesmeric vocal viaducts and guitar-plucked passages – her latest single, ‘To Be Flowers’, sounds like a glorious amalgam of Kate Bush, Yoko Ono and Julie Feeney.

You can get the track and a cracking t-shirt from cormorant-tree-oh.bandcamp.com/album/moonish…

From the seemingly bottomless well of the Derry punk scene come PARKER whose pummelling ‘Holy Communion’ single addresses the cultural divide between two star-crossed lovers.

Following on from the equally frisky ‘Eleanor’ and ‘Generic Indie Bands’ – great title! – it has us yearning for a PARKER/Cherym double-bill…

There’s shimmering indie folk to be had courtesy of ‘Boots For Hiking’, the new single from Annika Kilkenny who does indeed hail from the Marble City and cites Lizzy McAlpine, Laufey and Emily Bear as influences.

We’d add dodie and Leith Ross to that already heady mix.

As charming as it is catchy, it’s the latest fruits of her liaison with Tinpot Records, a London-based label set up by fellow singer Tom Rosenthal who’s also signed anther Irish favourite of ours, Sammy Copley…

We’re mightily impressed with Caught In Words, the debut album from Clonakilty singer-songwriter Eve Clague who’s steeped in the same folk and jazz traditions as Joni Mitchell and Linda Thompson with a bit of Nick Cave-style darkness thrown in for good measure.

Add in her husky voice, fingerpicking guitar and confessional lyrics about love, friendship, heartbreak and mental health and you’ve an artist of real substance…

Eve Clague

Having previously drummed with The Strypes, Evan Walsh switches to bass and takes care of vocal duties on ‘Silver Locket’, single #3 from The Savage Hearts whose previous ‘Gang War’ and ‘Speeding Bullets’ offerings both sold-out their Blowtorch Records vinyl runs.

“The track came about from listening to a lot of ‘60s psych, proto-punk and garage rock stuff, bands like The Move, The Sonics and The Deviants as well as loads of current acts like King Gizzard, The Lemon Twigs, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees,” Walsh reflects…