THE ELECTRO wonderboy that is DJ, producer, and musician Daithí, along with Tuam pop-punks Oh Boland, and midlands rockers The Academic, will see out 2015 and welcome in 2016 at the Róisín Dubh New Year's Eve party.
Last month Daithí released the new track 'Mary Keane's Introduction' - inspired by his 90-year-old grandmother who lives in a thatched cottage in Ballyvaughan - as a taster for his new EP, Tribes, out in February 2016.
“A few years ago my Grandmother was interviewed about what life was like in Clare when she was younger," he says. "When I heard the recording I couldn't believe how personal and heartfelt it was, I hadn't heard anyone her age talk so honestly about love. I put parts of the interview to some chords I was writing and everything clicked into place. It's a great introduction to the upcoming record, which is inspired by living in the west of Ireland."
The track listing for Tribes is 'Mary Keane's Introduction'/'Love’s On Top'/'1995'/'April'/'Rocamadour'. It was written in Galway over the last year with the music inspired by the city and its environs. "I spent a lot of time around the city and along the coast," says Daithí, "recording samples from beaches, farms, and city streets. After making such a clean pop record [debut album, 2013's In Flight], I wanted to go back and make something more organic, that reflects what life is like for young people in the west."
The songs of Tuam trio Oh Boland bristle with energy, sharpness, and a raw energy that draws on punk and sixties beat. In Niall Murphy they possess a songwriter with a brilliant eye for 'slice o'life' detail and an ability to mix aggression and tunefulness, or, as he puts it, "A healthy dose of scum, a healthy dose of pop."
"It's definitely indebted to the whole sixties garage thing and sixties pop in general," Niall told me earlier this year. "We try to make it super simple and super melodic. But I'm a big fan of noisy music, so Oh Boland's sound is really the junction where the two meet."
Regarding his lyrics, Niall draws inspiration from his day job as a barman. "I work in a bar back home in Tuam, mainly doing day shifts. So I have a lot of time on my hands," he says. "Most of the lyrics come out of boredom over all things, some are personal things, others more observational. Bar workers see and hear some weird stuff!"
Mullingar quartet The Academic were formed in 2013 and already they have played Other Voices, Electric Picnic, Longitude, Indiependence, Benicassim in Spain, HWCH, and opened for The Pixies, Kodaline, and Little Green Cars. They also played their first London shows to packed out nights at Club NME in Camden's Koko. Their debut EP Loose Friends came out in October and won critical praise.
The event takes place on Thursday December 31 from 8.30pm. Tickets are available at www.roisindubh.net, the Ticket Desk at OMG Zhivago, Shop Street, and The Róisín Dubh.
