Madra Salach - On Our Radar Q&A: "We never wanted to sound like we were making a period piece – you don’t want it to seem performatively traditional"

How do you approach songwriting?

Paul: I wrote a very basic version of the first single ‘Blue & Gold’ about two years ago, and then we all came together and arranged it. But now we’ve fallen into a nice division of labour where everyone has their role.

A lot of time Adam will have a riff or an instrumental idea, and then I might come up with the melody. So everyone throws in a little bit and we come out the other end with something nice.

How do you balance the blend of traditional Irish music with modern touches?

Paul: We try not to think about it too much. Starting off, I was really conscious of it, because we never wanted to sound like we were making a period piece – you don’t want it to seem performatively traditional. Hopefully we’re doing an okay job.

Maxime: We’re not traditionally trained in Irish trad, so that helps us not fall too much into that genre. But we can use influences from it.

Madra Salach at Electric Picnic on August 31st, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring- hotpress.com

Who are some of your biggest influences?

Paul: There’s the obvious names we always mention like Lisa O’Neill. We all have a big background in guitar music and effects pedals, whether it’s boom bass or noise. Adam has been listening to a lot of Portishead.

I think at first, we didn’t realise how much that background was influencing us. We were kind of going with what we were familiar with, and we’d all played in bands in and around those genres. So we fell back into that groove, which helped influence our sound.

What do you hope your music conveys to your audience?

Paul: Hopefully it’s some form of positive escapism, that’s why I listen to music. If I’m writing lyrics, I like them to be reflective and somewhat vulnerable, and as authentic as possible.

We’ve had people tell us after shows that they’ve cried – hopefully not because the quality of the music is so poor! Even if there’s one person every couple of gigs we can move that much, I think we’re not doing too bad.

Madra Salach's debut single ‘Blue & Gold’ is out now.