The first Jameson Bow St. Session of the New Year takes place tonight!

Bow St. Sessions, brought to you by Jameson and Hot Press, have always been a treat for serious music fans in Ireland, as evidenced by last October’s Cork show. The night saw Belfast indie rockers Pleasure Beach teaming up with alt-R&B trio Wyvern Lingo and beatmakers Amaron + Magic, for a thrilling coming-together of musical minds. More than this, however, these often unexpected collaborations manage to reflect the eclectic nature of the Irish musical landscape. The latest instalment of the series takes place at the Sugar Club on January 26, and finds two of Ireland’s most innovative soul acts, Barq and Soulé, hooking up with the indubitable Booka Brass. It’s a show that promises to be unlike any previous Bow St. Session. Quite simply, we’re not sure what to expect!

“This event is a really strong indication of what’s emerging from music in Ireland,” says Barq’s Jess Kav. “If you look back to 15 years ago, much of what was coming out of Ireland was brilliant but somewhat homogenised, in that it was folk or rock-based. Now you have urban, soul, rock and hip-hop, which creates this big melting pot of genres. Then you have fucking Booka Brass – who sound like they’ve come straight out of New Orleans or somewhere! So it’s really deadly that we can put on an event like this which represents the diversity of Irish music.”

This sentiment is shared by Booka Brass’ Rónán Scarlett.

“There are several venues around Dublin putting on gigs from a wide variety of genres and seeing massive turnouts,” he enthuses. “As a fan of music in general, it’s great to see. Then as a musician, it puts pressure on you to be the best that you can, because there’s so much competition out there. It’s very exciting at the same time; the rising quality of talent out there gives us important opportunities to collaborate – this being a prime example.”

One of the newest acts on the Irish scene is also one of Dublin’s most original prospects. Working with music production group Diffusion Lab – the same outfit who have gifted us with work from Hare Squead and Jafaris – Soulé brought out her debut single ‘Love No More’ back in August. “I’ve been singing since I was eight years old,” she explains “Working with Diffusion Lab gave me the support I needed to release my first single. As a group, they’re working with so many great emerging artists and they’re right at the heart of urban music in Dublin. I love that I can be a part of that.”

Layering electronic beats over a musical style that owes as much to hip hop artists like Kendrick Lamar as it does to soul pioneers like Nina Simone, Soulé will be a wonderful complement to the two more seasoned groups. The three acts have no shortage of positive things to say about each other, and much discussion and debate has been had about the collaborative part of the night. However, despite your humble reporter’s best efforts, everyone is keeping schtum about what songs might be performed.

In lieu of sharing more details, Jess Kav simply has this to say: “When you have two strong soul-singing women on stage, you can be sure that whatever we do is going to get people going and will be empowering. We’re going to melt people’s faces off!”

Booka Brass’ Rónán has a similar attitude. Paying tribute to Jess’ “stunning voice”, he tells how the addition of a brass band will “fill out the sound” on the night. “A lot of our music is quite groove-based,” he continues, “which is similar to Barq and Soulé. We’re going to be coming in there with a lot of energy and I can promise that we’ll be making something groovy.”

Starting off 2017 as they mean to go on, all three acts have serious plans to attack the live scene throughout Ireland and beyond. Tours are being planned, festivals lined up and new music is most definitely in the works on all three fronts.

And yes, in the meantime, there’s the logistics of fitting three full-sized bands (one with seven brass-armed individuals!) onto the intimate Sugar Club stage...

There’ll be plenty of advance discussion about that too!

Booka Brass, Barq and Soulé play Jameson Bow St. Sessions on January 26 in The Sugar Club, Dublin. For your chance to be there, apply for complimentary tickets on hotpress.com/bowstreetsessions