Beneath the Dublin six-piece’s thunderous guitar squall lie some of the sweetest melodies you’re going to hear this or any other year. Dreamt up by singer-songwriter Oisin Leahy Furlong when he was at BIMM - there’s a theme developing here – they were one of the standouts before Christmas at Other Voices, and also impressed in 2018 when they headed out on Irish tour with old school pals Fangclub. While their mates The Murder Capital do the angry young man thing to perfection, Thumper exude a joie de vivre and esprit de corps (they ought to be French) which you get from precious few guitar bands these days. Which isn’t to say that songs like ‘AFI’, ‘Lonesome Freak’, ‘Rent Is Due’ and ‘(You’re Bringing Me) Down’, a seven-minute epic, which sonically references Foo Fighters, Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth, won’t tear your face off. We’ll be talking to young Mr. Leahy Furlong in our next issue.

HEAR: ‘(You’re Bringing Me) Down’

SEE: The psychedelically inclined video for ‘The Loser’.