I Dreamed I Dream are a genre-blending five-piece band from Cork. Consisting of Julie Landers on vocals and drums, Claire Aherne on vocals and bass, Niamh Hayes on keys and Elle Kelleher and Laura Dineen sharing guitar duties, they are influenced by everything ranging from shoegaze and dreampop to classic girl groupsÂ
Described by the Evening Echo/Examiners Mike McGrath-Bryan as “emerging experimentalists” and with a “healthy disregard for musical convention”, IDID are fast becoming one of Ireland’s most captivating bands.
“(Eoghan has) a creative streak on par with some of this country’s greatest-ever songwriters. The lyrics of The Deepest Breath are proof and testament to that. Incredibly powerful words which not unlike the great Liam Weldon, are words that belong to and represent the working people. Words of hope for the overlooked and hard done by.” – Myles O’Reilly
“Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin has a wondrously sonorous voice” – Irish News
“…once you hear his voice, you’re unlikely to forget it” – Folk Radio UK
EOGHAN Ó CEANNABHÁIN
Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is a Dublin-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical roots are in sean-nós singing – the style of his father – and he grew up listening to the likes of Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, Seán ‘ac Dhonncha, Colm Ó Caoidheáin and other greats from the tradition. He is also influenced by folk singers from the English language tradition such as Liam Weldon, Luke Kelly, Anne Briggs, Margaret Barry and Thomas McCarthy.
Eoghan has performed and recorded with a number of different bands, including Dublin-based Skipper’s Alley, Irish/Scottish/Manx Gaelic collaboration Aon Teanga: Un Chengey and folk/electronica band Jiggy. He also collaborates with Clare fiddle and viola player Ultan O’Brien. Their debut album Solas an Lae won best album at the RTÉ Folk Awards in 2021.
Over the past few years, Eoghan has come into his own as a solo artist and songwriter. His songs – written in both English and Irish – build on his sean-nós singing foundations but combine hard-hitting lyrics with other musical influences to create a rich, contemporary sound. He recently released his debut solo album, ‘The Deepest Breath’.
For this intimate live show, Eoghan will be joined by Ian Kinsella on guitar & vocals; and Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz on cello & vocals.
“The lyrics and beauty of Elly’s songs are wondrous. Her music touches your soul. The ups and downs of life and the feelings that are thrown up are captured by Elly’s poignant and deep-rooted lyrics, brought to life by her amazingly powerful and deeply- melodic voice- sweet and beautiful, while also penetrating your heart and mind. Elly is also an excellent musician, accomplished on both the guitar and piano. She is a songwriter par excellence. This is a woman who is a specialist in her craft.” – Tom Niall
Originally hailing from Tipperary Ireland, Elaine Howley is a vocalist and producer who merges an expansive tapestry of experimental, analogue processes with a love of classic songwriting and melodic hooks, to create a sound world that is distinctly her own.
Immersed in both the experimental music scenes in her adopted home of Cork, and the DIY ethos of Ireland’s alternative rock community, Elaine’s music grew out of years of varied, extensive collaborative practise, performance and experimentation. She has toured across Europe and the UK as the singer in the acclaimed psychedelic rock group, The Altered Hours, sharing stages with the likes of Fontaines DC, Wooden Shjips, Clinic and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Closer to home, she has played in ambient trio Crevice and folk group Morning Veils. It was through playing with these groups and performing with the improvisatory collectives The Dark Arts Orchestra and HEX and collaborating with composer Irene Buckley and musician Roslyn Steer that Elaine began to further explore vocal layering and manipulation, sampling, stretching and slowing things down to uncanny, enigmatic layers of sound.
After contributing to a host of critically acclaimed compilations, Howley released her first full length solo album ‘The Distance Between Heart and Mouth’ in 2022 through Touch Sensitive Records (David Holmes, Cherrystones, Documenta, Vox Populi). Pitchfork praised the album as “a spectral slow burn that refuses to trip over itself to get anywhere in particular. By absorbing the wisdom of the process, Howley permits her craft to resound deeper than ever”.
Elaine uses tape to process voice, drum machines and synthesizers, creating production that works in tandem with her songwriting to weave an intimate sonic tapestry that feels warm and esoteric all at once. The Distance Between Heart And Mouth was born out of a ritualistic practice of going to her home studio first thing in the morning, creating a daily audio-diary as soon as she woke. It’s unsurprising then that the resulting album emanates an intimate quality; blending deep synths, whisper-soft melodies, echoes, loops, beats and murmurs, recalling the likes of Trish Keenan, Tirzah and Leslie Weiner, while Elaine’s unmistakable voice cracks through the analogue gauze like a crystalline glint of daylight.
Electronic Sound Magazine praised The Distance Between Heart and Mouth describing the record as “nine detailed and hugely captivating vignette’s” while Backseat Mafia observed “The music bristles with experimental edginess but that doesn’t obscure the song craft or the clarity of the statements being made. Elaine Howley’s ‘The Distance Between Heart And Mouth’ bravely tells it like it is and we should be thankful that she does.”
The album, now in its second pressing, has received praise from The Sunday Times, The Examiner, The Thin Air and has been played by Mary Anne Hobbs and Tom Ravenscroft on BBC6 Music. Elaine has been playing live across Ireland in support of the record and made her London debut at the ICA gallery in May 2023.
Craic Boi Mental – rapper, producer and activist from Cork City, with a knack for lo-fi production and an innate ear for an inescapable hook.
His relentless work ethic and deeply idiosyncratic style have built him a Cult following worldwide. Now he’s fresh off the back of his sold Out US tour & looking forward to performing once again for his Irish fans.
In a genre defined by self-seriousness, A Burial At Sea are the outsiders of the outsiders. The usual rock n’ roll setup of guitar, bass, drums is bolstered by a mini two-man horn section, which has resulted in the band to be labeled as “trumpet-core” and “post-rock mariachi”.
In the spring of 2020, Aoife Nessa Frances packed up her things in Dublin and moved to rural County Clare on the west coast of Ireland. It was there, amidst the stillness, that she began to work on the songs that would become her second album, Protector: a personal, mystical journey of self-discovery through dislocation, transformation, and restoration. “I might have been running away from my problems,” she admits. “I was disconnected from myself and from nature, but I found peace far away from the city, where there were no distractions. I isolated myself with nothing to do but make music.”
Recording took place in a small house in County Kerry, at the foothills of the Annascaul, along with Brendan Jenkinson (producer, keys, bass, synth, clarinet) and Brendan Doherty (drums). “We’d wake up early every day and swim at Inch Beach before making music,” Frances describes. “This ritual was crucial for our process. There was an unexplainable joy happening between the three of us.” The arrangements grew with later contributions from Ailbhe Nic Oiroictaigh (strings), Meabh McKenna (harp), and Conor O’Brien (horns). No matter how it expanded in scope and involvement, Frances never let it stray from a central focus on deep truths. “For me, Protector acknowledges the part of myself that steers me towards a brighter path. The almost psychotropic power of nature gave me a connection I never felt before. As the countryside seeped into me and lines of communication opened up with my family, I developed an ability to perceive myself and my choices within an expanded world.”
Protector builds pastoral landscapes through light flourishes and open spaces. Songs float along effortlessly, remaining anchored by Frances’ deep voice. Contemplative tempos tug along atmospheric synths, minimal bass, and shimmering guitar notes, conveying a serenity like early morning. “Writing and recording this album was a spiritual experience,” Frances explains. “I experienced love for my family on a level I didn’t know existed, while slowly putting myself back together and watching the ‘protector’ in me grow much bigger.”
Gemma Hayes is a much loved and respected Irish singer songwriter. Her debut album, Night On My Side, was released in 2002, for which she won Best Female Artist at the Hot Press Awards and a Mercury Prize nomination. Since then she has released 4 critically acclaimed studio albums and a limited-edition live album. Gemma is constantly in demand for film and television placements – her version of Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game, recorded for the US TV series Pretty Little Liars, is now close to 19 million streams on Spotify alone.
Gemma is currently working on a new album which she herself describes as deconstructed folk-pop. Gemma will be releasing a song called High and Low at the end of February with her new album coming in September 2023.