Nerves: "As a nation, we don’t have much to be proud about in terms of what our government is doing"

Nerves’ upcoming record, Iarmhaireacht – literally “the loneliness felt at cock-crow” – is an expansive, powerful exploration of Irish identity, through eight tracks of noise-rock and ambient soundscapes. Despite its length, Nerves frontman Kyle Thornton insists Iarmhaireacht is still an EP.

“Album’s a scary word,” he laughs. “I think we want to wait until we’re in a bit more of a secure position to be able to go, ‘This is a debut album.’”

In the last year, Nerves went through major changes by transitioning from a line-up of three musicians to a four-piece.

“That all bleeds into the writing process,” guitarist Adam Nealon explains. “Before, we’d all jam and play at the same time. But now we have to be a lot more selective, because if all four of us are playing full blast all the time, it turns to mush.”

A large part of the change comes in putting greater emphasis on quiet/loud dynamics and “making sure we know when we shouldn’t be playing”.

“I’ve seen bands that are burst-through-the-wall-loud for the entire set,” says Kyle. “It’s really fun, but there’s something more impactful about it when you contrast it with something really quiet.”

“It gets a bit draining as well,” Adam adds, “if you’re just loud the whole time.”

Throughout Iarmhaireacht, Nerves explore and reclaim Irish identity and folk traditions through a communal and social lens. In doing so, they reject a nationalist narrative that’s been on the rise over the past few years.

“In our history,” Kyle says, “we were a country where we weren’t allowed to express any of those folk symbolisms. We weren’t allowed to put our folk traditions on a platform like that, and then for someone to turn around and be like, ‘that’s nationalist’, it rubs me the wrong way.”

“Because we’re a really young country, we can decide what getting back into folk tradition means. Irishness, to a certain extent, in 2025, is a little less defined than nationalities in other countries. So we get to choose how we want to portray ourselves.”

“We’re all over the world ourselves,” Adam continues. “We’re immigrants everywhere. It makes absolutely no sense to be actually proud of Ireland, of being Irish, and turn around and tell these people they shouldn’t be here.”

“In terms of how our people have been treated in the history of our country, we have more in common with any Middle Eastern or African country than we do with any European country.”

Iamhaireacht

Do they find it difficult to express pride in their country, when a portion of the population has been trying to co-opt Irish imagery into something nationalistic?

“Being proud of my country in terms of its culture,” Kyle says, “has never translated into being proud of my country in terms of our policies. As a nation, we don’t have much to be proud about in terms of what our government is doing. We have record homelessness, a massive housing crisis. No one should be proud of that kind of stuff.”

Another theme the Mayo natives explore on their new EP is the hollowness of rural life, and the slow decay of the culture in their county.

“Every time I go home,” Adam explains, “another 10 businesses have shut down.”

“And there’s another 10 people that have emigrated to Australia,” Kyle jumps in. “It’s really frustrating to know this is how it’s been historically. Because you look around this place that you love, and you’re wondering: is it genuinely possible for any of this to change?”

Throughout their career, Nerves have also been vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause.

“I don’t think everyone should have to talk about Palestine in music directly,” Kyle explains. “But I feel there’s a certain obligation to kind of show your support for it. Even if you’re not a ‘political band’, it just doesn’t look right to not say anything at all, ever. There’s nothing you can do in music or in art in general that isn’t political.”

Adam concludes: “If you have any sort of a platform at all, you should be speaking up.”

• Iarmhaireacht is out now.