New To Hot Press: Junior Brother

Kerry-based Ronan Kealy, aka Junior Brother, takes the stage with just a guitar, his ‘foot tambourine’ and a stool – a set-up he’s utilised since the release of his first EP, 2016’s Fuck Off I Love You. Moving to Dublin from Kerry last year “to go at the music full-force”, Kealy’s Junior Brother project draws on the natural inspiration of his home county – fields, ditches and jagged trees.

“The landscape feels very untouched,” he explains. “It transports you back to a time when those things were still around everywhere. I try to have that sense in my music as well.”

Looking at the music video for ‘Hungover At Mass’ – a fish-eyed lens spectacle of uncomfortable close-ups on Kealy, as he moves through the surrounding countryside after a night of drinking – this line of thought is evident. He focuses on the natural as much as possible. “I’d like to keep that going,” he notes. “There’s raw beauty – but it’s weird.” With his foot tambourine duct-taped to the floor and the joke that it’s becoming “a seventh-string for the guitar”, Kealy is clear that it comes naturally for him to do his own thing. There’s humour and wit in his lyrics. “You can just enjoy the music for the humour,“ he suggests. “It’s there if you want to find it.”

As he looks to expand his horizons, this year will see Junior Brother’s first gigs in the UK after he releases his debut album. Thus far, the “weird music” and Kealy’s nasally, erratic singing style has been well-received by Irish radio DJs and listeners alike.

“After ‘Hungover At Mass’ aired on 2FM,” he recalls, “a listener texted to say, ‘It’s a lovely song! Do you have an English version of it?’”

‘Hungover at Mass’ is out now.