Applause for Deci Gallen and his vaporous but lovely presence as LMINL. Once, he composed as the Jane Bradfords and connoisseurs of synth-swoon may remember ‘Golden Ticket’ with affection. Long story, but he has rejoined us with a new project and an album that is flecked with memory and sighs, like stray light in a derelict room.
Actually, that’s not a fancy conceit, since the songs tell of a return to the old house in the rural northwest and the parish dance hall that’s adjacent to it. Decades ago, there was vibrancy, but now the visitor senses decay:
“Copper pennies turned to green, the apple smell of Halloween… souls…”
Deci Gallen, LMINL
The songs are unhurried, resting by the poignant details, allowing the emotions to transfuse. A few of the tunes take their leave with a billowing coda. ‘We Were Something’ is seven minutes of ascending, aching Proust-pop. Likewise, the cathedral tones of ‘Postcard’, just the job if you favour the scale of Sigur Rós and The National.
The backstory of LMINL is about awful misfortune, damaged hearing and a record that might never have been made. Which gives the votive flicker of ‘Halo Light’ a consoling aspect. Prepare another candle for the souls who gave illumination.
Stuart Bailie
LMINL will host a playback event of The Dance Hall during this year’s Sound of Belfast programme, 7 November. Ticket details here.
Afterwar is a film about street kids in Kosovo, selling peanuts, phonecards and cigarettes in late-night bars. These phantom children work the tables and the last of the dawn trade before taking their bus rides out of Pristina. They return to the rural beyond, to damaged homes and bleak landscapes. Parents are dead, injured or missing. Here it is, the dispossession of war. 
BIIRD is where Tank Girl and Stevie Nicks meet Riverdance, downtown. It’s about exceptional playing and trad music chops, delivered with high self-esteem, style and mischief. The 11 musicians have served their time in back bars, sessions and flash concert halls. The experience has been useful, but this seems like a determined break.
We once saw Lankum at Stendhal when they were called Lynched. Another time, in 2021, we watched DJ Próvaí moonlighting as Losta Plot, unmasked and insecure.
EXMAGICIAN: Sit Tight
Belfast-based composer and musician Conn Thornton has released their third LP Meteorite Season, two and a half years following their sophomore record Tragedy. In the time between records, Thornton’s new music shows that they have proliferated their soundscapes whilst maintaining core themes of the importance of connection as seen in their previous work. Conn’s alternative indie stylings live on but have become part of a wider palette of inspiration boosted by more musical and life experience. 
The Kneecap album is about k-holes, white lines and low times in a Belfast bar. There is laughter and distraction plus messy company. Voices are raised as the pints go down. They talk about pills and politics, cash and romance. Somebody isn’t buying their round. Always the way, right? 
Behold, the great presence of Christy Moore in Botanic Gardens, Belfast. The stage is draped in black and he’s up there with his guitar for the best part of two hours. You know most of the songs as this 79-year-old tilts from rage and sorrow to sweetness and levity. He sings of a nation’s difficult progress. He notes the villains and the victims. He’ll make you cry and there are moments in the crowd when friends embrace each other and the hurt passes through them. 
For Lucy Gaffney, songwriting has always been the best mode of transportation. It has taken her from Belfast to London, Liverpool and the Outer Hebrides while gigging across these islands alongside the likes of Wallows, Inhaler and Snow Patrol. Over the past few years, the Belfast-based artist has amassed a following from her shoegaze-inspired guitar sound and realist lyricism.
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