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A film projector in an attic, adjacent to a window, opposite a motorway. Three film students united by sound and vision, by chord and close-up. Jean-Luc Godard and Thurston Moore. They are Chalk, they are based in Belfast and they are here for the foreseeable.

“We can’t quite believe it ourselves”, says Chalk frontman Ross Cullen. “None of us have ever been in a real band before, it’s just something we thought we’d try because we all like similar music. That’s all.” Continue Reading…

In 2018, he was artist-in-residence at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, working his chops and winning friends. This year, Joshua is the headliner dude in the big marquee. Surprising, eh?

Well, not if you’ve seen him at the Elmwood Hall in 2021 or witnessed the sold-out hallelujah in the Ulster Hall, last December. Sometimes he looks like an endearing shambles, but Joshua’s art doesn’t fail and the curve is ever-excellent. Here then, are ten good things about the show: Continue Reading…

You knew that CS Lewis was from Northern Ireland as soon as you read the description of Narnia as, “always winter, but never Christmas”. In the same way you know this is a Therapy? album from the outset, when that unalloyed Andy Cairns east Antrim gulder delivers opener ‘They Shoot the Terrible Master’ like a smack around the chops. Continue Reading…

Joe Nawaz – Playlisted

April 27, 2023

The Joe Nawaz one-man show, Five Days, premiered at the Imagine! Festival of Politics and Ideas in March and will be returning to the stage in the autumn. Joe is publicist with Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, and a writer and performer who lives and works in Belfast.  The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival runs from 27 April – 7 May. This is his Playlisted feature for Dig With It, Issue 10. Continue Reading…

Sometimes these are the best dreams I’ve ever had,” goes the opening lyric on Mark McCambridge’s latest album under the name Arborist. “….but they’re not real, I understand.”

There has always been a comforting stoicism within Arborist. An indifferent shrug to acknowledge the trauma that is life in the 21st century. None of his songs are particularly optimistic, but there’s enough subtle humour and sonic warmth to make everything feel okay…ish. Continue Reading…

Issue 10 is released on April 20.

Ferna’s debut album Understudy makes you flinch.

At its core, the record feels like it’s reaching out in a gentle, or sometimes rivetingly forceful, way to shake you out of disconnection or a self-imposed detachment. “Open your mouth wide,” she commands on the opening track ‘Open Up’. With our jaws agape, Ferna breathes life into what lurks beneath the surface of our being, that which we often find too painful to touch. Continue Reading…

Rachel Craig Profile

March 21, 2023

The opening line of her debut single ‘The Ghost of You’ sees Rachel Craig shedding her self-doubt, as she sings, “I’m not afraid anymore.” The haunting ballad sees the Portstewart native come to terms with the dissolution of a father-daughter relationship, seeking out strength instead of sadness. Although the track is haunted by the spectral presence of nostalgia (the single artwork contains a faded family photograph), there is something uplifting lying beneath the fragile vocal performance and layers of swirling electric guitar. Continue Reading…

They are stronger than Mensa. They spit out Derek Jarman, Karin Bergöö Larsson and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Every New Pagans gig is a schooling, an alternative history and a major lesson in riffology. Continue Reading…

The Strand Cinema is a landmark piece of architecture in Belfast, shining like a beacon of artistic endeavour, reflecting the energy of the city back upon itself. Phil Kieran is one of the city’s foremost electronic producers, consequently securing pride of place in creating this space of sound much like the building itself does. Continue Reading…