Madra Salach announce debut album Gorta

Madra Salach have announced their debut album Gorta, which will be released on January 15, 2027. The band released the song 'Ribbon Factory' last Friday, their first single for the record.

The album is named after the Irish word for "hunger." It follows a theme of inheritance.

"What we carry from the generations before us, what we leave behind, and the many forms that hunger can take," a statement about Gorta reads.

Frontman and lyricist Paul Banks shared his process while writing the album.

"I usually write from personal experience," he said. "I try not to go too big-picture. I can tap into the emotions that way."

"The ideas of longing and yearning, all the kinds of hunger, they slot into where we are as 21st century Irish people.

"The more I’ve thought and written about Irishness, the more I’ve seen how strange a history and a position and a culture we have."

Oscar Torrans designed the album's sleeve features a single figure: a Blemmyes, a version of an akapheloi, a humanoid figure from Greek mythology. The akapheloi were headless, and their faces sat on their chest.

Madra Salach released their debut EP, It's a Hell of an Age, in January 2026. The EP reached No. 3 on the Irish Albums Chart and the Top 10 on the UK Official Independent Albums Chart. The band played Electric Picnic in August, and were recently announced as performers for Primavera Sound Barcelona 2027.

They are currently on a sold-out UK tour, with upcoming dates in the US in November. They will also embark on a run of sold-out Irish shows in December.

Dates include Waterford, Limerick, Belfast, and Cork. They will be playing a show at Dublin's Vicar Street on Thursday, December 10. In June 2027, the band will suport Fontaines D.C. for their Slane Castle gigs.

More information on the album can be found here.

Check out the tracklist for Gorta below:

1. Hunger

2. Ribbon Factory

3. Tunnel Tigers

4. Searrach

5. The Stolen Sheep

6. Bolg

7. She Talks to the Telly

8. Cranes

9. Circus Horse

10. The Haunted Isle of Green