MEMORIES OF the aftermath of the 2015 marriage equality referendum have inspired the new single by HousePlants, a collaboration between Galway based musician, Daithí, and Bell X1’s Paul Noonan.
‘Companero' was born as a “collective remembering” of the “euphoria of that day when people gathered at Dublin Castle to celebrate that milestone in our journey towards becoming a more open, liberal society,” said Noonan. “Daithí added the snarling synth to my singing and drumming. It was the first HousePlants song that we worked on from our respective caves during lockdown.”
This week also saw the duo announce the release date for their debut album, Dry Goods, which will be out on September 17. The album will feature ‘Companero', as well as the previous single ‘What's With All The Pine?’. The remaining tracks will be ‘Window Pane’, ‘No Stoppin’ Me’, ‘Mannequin’, ‘Ringing In My Ears’, ‘Burning’, ‘Reveller’, ‘Wait!’
For both artists, HousePlants represents reclamation amidst a significantly difficult era for creatives. “There’s a community of music makers who mainly see each other at gigs and nights like the Choice Music Prize that feels somewhat atomised in the void of lockdown,” says Noonan. “One of the nicer things about this time is that artists have been checking in on each other. It feels like lots of people are doing what we did.”
