Child Of Prague and Madra Salach steal the Thursday night honours at Eurosonic

Moody rock ‘n’ rollers are great but I also like ones who have shit-eating grins on their faces, so gleeful they are to be up on stage performing.

Falling into the latter category are Child Of Prague, the shapeshifting Dublin six-piece who will soon be gracing the pages of Hot Press’ Hot For 2026 special issue.

I say ‘shapeshifting’ because over the course of forty glorious minutes, they run the full gamut from folk, indie and math rock to jazz, punk and grunge.

They weren’t born when it came out, but it reminds me of The Frames’ equally genre-bending Fitzcarraldo album.

With three of their members sharing vocal duties and fiddle and sax both prominent in the mix, the only band Child Of Prague really sound like, though, is themselves.

I have “Fuck me, they’re good!” scrawled in my somewhat alcohol-fuelled notes from last night, and in the cold light of day feel no need to update my position.

There are high security bank vaults that are easier to get into than Madra Salach’s Nieuwe Kerk gig, which is the talk of Thursday night.

Despite arriving thirty minutes before kick-off, the scrum outside the church is impenetrable, so you’ll have to make do with this photo of the chaps raising hell on consecrated ground.

Madra Salach at Eurosonic Nieuwe Kerk on January 15th, 2026. Copyright Jessie Kamp

If any country musically punches above its weight more than Ireland, it’s Iceland who together with Portugal is one of this year’s Eurosonic focus countries.

There’s an especially big buzz surrounding Elin Hall, a young singer-songwriter who’s had four number one singles at home and is now starting to make serious waves overseas.

First, let’s get some of the cliches out of the way - she’s not elfin, otherworldly or sounds anything like Bjork.

She does, though, have a song named after a type of flawed volcanic lava rock, ‘Taklite’, which she uses as an analogy for “love that burns too fast and becomes shit.”

This, as we learn over the course of her set, is an indie folk artist who gives zero fucks as she eviscerates ex-boyfriends - albeit in a gentle, half-whispered acoustic way which captivates the packed room from the get-go.

Another example of her steel fist in a velvet glove approach to songwriting is ‘Wolf Boy’, which tells one of those exes: “I’m a big shark/ Blood in my teeth/ I’m a killer baby/ Pushing you away from me.”

Who knew that dark malevolence could sound so beautiful?

Draws also drop when she covers David Bowie’s ‘As The World Falls Down’, her favourite childhood song which she steers into Cyndi Lauper ‘True Colors’ territory.

‘America’ isn’t about Trump’s Disunited States but what it’s like coming from a tiny dot of a country that most people know nothing about.

I'm not sure if the Cranberries are an influence, but Hall’s half-yodel during it is positively Dolores O’Riordan-esque!

In the unlikely event that Bono leaves U2 and forms a grunge-y emo band, they’d probably sound like The Clumps, a Norwegian threesome who rock out in spectacular fashion.

Recent single ‘**** (Save Us)’ - the asterisks are theirs - boasts a killer chorus while ‘Citizens’ could fill baseball stadiums if given the chance.

I’m really not sure about the name though…

The winner of the Faroese Music Prize with Ja/Nei – Og Restin Av Vikuni - try saying that after a few advocaats - Ragnar Finnson admits to being a massive Bon Iver fan and has the same knack for dissecting the human condition as Mr. Vernon.

‘Who Are You?’ is an absolute peach of a song, with the 26-year-old bathing his alt. folk in warm ambient noise.

Indeed, the Tórshavn singer is constantly throwing out little sonic curveballs to ensure that he transcends his obvious influences.

Somebody needs to get him over to Ireland pronto!

Stay tuned for a ringside report on Florence Road's equally triumphant Eurosonic appearance...

Florence Road at Eurosonic Huize Maas on January 15th, 2026. Copyright Ben Houdijk