NOBODY KNOWS quite how to define Meltybrains? Some even wonder if they are actually human. What is not in doubt is that they play fearlessly imaginative, wildly original, music.
The band - Tadhg Byrne, Brian Dillon, Ben McKenna, Donnacha O’Malley, and Micheál Quinn - recently released the double A-side single Donegal/IV on their own Meltylabs? Records. Nialler9 said it was “like a post-rock band covering drum and bass from Goldie’s Timeless album”; Q said it “merges Mogwai’s downcast introspection with IDM minimalism to create a chillingly visionary palette”.
For its part, NME acknowledged how difficult it was to pin down the Dublin quintet’s sound, by calling them “experimentalists teeming with enough ideas to defy categorisation”.
Meltybrains? make experimental music through bass, drums, electric violin, synthesisers, and effected vocals. Their strong interest in the visual arts has led to the band using choreographed dance moves and distributing painted masks among audiences, turning their fans into a fearsome force of splattered ‘Meltyclones’.
Meltybrains? play Strange Brew at the Róisín Dubh tonight at 9pm. Admission is free. Gugai will be DJing afterwards.
