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.

BIIRD, Mandela Hall, Belfast. By Stuart Bailie.

They make their Irish debut during Tradfest, at a busy Mandela Hall near the end of a tremendous week. For the duration, Belfast has been animated by so many great festival performances, workshops, talks, céilí dances and international visitors. Tradfest is raising the standards and proving that the city has the capacity to deliver the all-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in 2026. It’s a treat to see it all scale up. Continue Reading…

Moya Brennan has made an impression on ravers and new agers, on keepers of the tradition plus fans of the human voice, being exceptional. The Clannad days are over but Moya is here with familiar songs and new ideas, with daughter Aisling, son Paul and harpist Cormac de Barra. It’s the first night of Tradfest 2024 and a chance to witness a trail that’s been meaningful for over 50 years. Continue Reading…

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.

Every year, you steer for Limavady and Ballmully Cottage Farm, looking for surprise and fresh reveals. Happily, this is also an option for 2024.

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EXMAGICIAN: Sit Tight
It’s always a treat to hear exmagician. Their last significant visit was Scan the Blue in 2016, and we appreciate that they don’t overburden our record shelves unless there is excellent reason. As before, they make woozy, sense-mashed tunes with secret pop abilities. Every song has a flourish, a surprise. ‘Keep Your Nose Clean’ sounds like an update of The Byrds and ‘So You Want to Be A Rock ’n’ Roll Star’ – quiet cool, surrounded by havoc. The chord shapes of ‘Storyline’ are keenly engineered and you’re never far away from a feeling of wonderment. In this respect, ‘Pistol’ is something that Wayne Coyne, your ever-grinning acid uncle, would condone. Bless exmagician and the curious haven they have shored up against the tides of idiocy. Continue Reading…

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. Continue Reading…

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? Continue Reading…

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. Continue Reading…

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.

Reflecting on her career so far, Gaffney points to her move to Liverpool as the catalyst which allowed her to thrive in a music scene for the first time. “It was basically where I learned to write songs”, she says. “I picked up the guitar in a city really famous for its music. It was important to really learn the writing process and I’d say it was akin to a folk artist going to Nashville. A lot of people there were from Belfast as well, so you never felt too far from home.” Continue Reading…

Joel Harkin is the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2024 Artist-in-Residence. The Donegal-born singer-songwriter receives the torch from previous powerhouse artists-in-residence  such as Winnie Ama and Joshua Burnside.

I meet Joel Harkin for a chat in East Belfast not far from his studio, Aye Sound Mastering, where he mixes and masters records for fellow artists in the Belfast scene. He’s been releasing music since 2018, including the NI Music Prize shortlisted LP Never Happy (2020) and his most recent EP, Sham Supermarket (2023). Continue Reading…

For Esmeralda Road, 2024 has brought a new lease of life to the band. They just never thought that a rebirth would happen so early in their career.

Under the name Moonboot, they had garnered a following that helped them to take Single Of The Year at 2023’s NI Music Prize for their debut track, and first song they had ever written together, ‘To U’. Yet within a matter of days, the band’s social media accounts were taken down due to complications with a footwear company of the same name. Eager to let people know they hadn’t disappeared after this success, the band knew they needed to rebrand. After throwing around ideas they finally landed on Esmeralda Road, named after the street where they had lived in London.  Continue Reading…