Pádraig Cooney & Bedtime Now: Wet Work (No Effort Collective), ★★★★☆
“This record feels like the end of the road,” says Pádraig Cooney, a young man who is nevertheless a veteran of the Irish indie scene, from cofounding the pioneering record label Popical Island to performing in bands such as Autre Monde and Skelocrats. The songs here are so good that it would be a crying shame if Wet Work were Cooney’s swansong. From the Squeeze-like crispness of I’ll Never Disappoint You Again and the Paul McCartney sensibilities of Harsh Country to the unconventional but adroit Irish folk of Soldiers of Liberty and the sublime strings of Songs of My Low Spirits, Cooney says farewell with a flourish. Here’s hoping he’ll have a change of mind.
BK Pepper: Pagan (Bigo & Twigetti), ★★★★☆
Six years after his graceful instrumental debut album, Territories, BK Pepper returns with a somewhat edgier, more cinematic work recorded with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Dublin-based Glasshouse ensemble and the Icelandic composer and violinist Viktor Orri Árnason. Across 10 pieces (including Brother Sister, Common Ground, You’re Not Alone, and Fauna and Flora), the music unfurls leisurely. Everything is augmented by seamlessly linked muted brass and layered vocals that sustain the album’s admirable theme of engaging with consensus without losing independence.
Phoeno: Comfort in the Knowing (Phoeno/Self-Released), ★★★★☆
Drum machines, synths and music rooted in the 1980s: the Dublin duo Phoeno (Adam Matthews and Liam Corbett) might lean into the likes of Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Duran Duran and Pet Shop Boys for inspiration, but there are also deeply personal undercurrents of anxiety and grief that come with experiencing life and loss during lockdown. This dynamic pushes infectious, sumptuously produced songs such as Safety, Turn Your Back, At Night I Lay Awake, Jess and For the Ones I Know I Love into the realm of electropop virtuosity.
Cable Boy: Forever (Cable Boy/Self-released) ★★★☆☆
It can take time to forge an authentic identity, but over the past five years Cable Boy have achieved that through nimble creative modifications. The Dublin-based quintet – Jason Aikhionbare, Fionn McLoughlin, Liam Murray, Semilore Olusa and Corneille Tshibasu – channel several well-known spirit guides across their 13-track debut album: Joy Division’s bass rumbles are present and correct in Trapped Alone, The Cure’s casual thrill is there in Icarus, and a swathe of shoegaze acts inform songs such as Something in My Head and Seen It All Before. Influences aside, Forever zings with purpose and personality.
Oscar Blue: Birds in Winter (Oscar Blue/Self-released), ★★☆☆☆
There’s little doubt that the Co Clare singer-songwriter Oscar Blue has the wherewithal to make a successful career from his blend of Irish soundalikes (choose any combination from Dermot Kennedy, Gavin James, Kingfishr, The Script, Kodaline et al) and, to give him credit, far more distinctive, emotive lyrics. That said, listening to the 10 songs on his debut album is a little like being drenched with waves of algorithmic uniformity. The occasional deft lyrical flourish aside, there’s little here that you haven’t heard many times before.