7/10

A Must-Watch, Must Listen To, and Must See Live Band!

Akrobat’s new single “Dirty Gathering” arrives like a slow leak of tension through concrete. Nothing about it rushes to impress you. Instead, it coils itself gradually around atmosphere, restraint and unease, revealing a band increasingly comfortable in mood, texture and ambiguity rather than obvious payoff.

The Dublin collective have spent the last few years quietly carving out a distinct space within Ireland’s alternative underground. Across previous releases, Akrobat have consistently resisted neat categorisation.

Indie, art-rock, post-punk, electronic minimalism and new wave all drift through their sound, but “Dirty Gathering” feels like one of the clearest articulations yet of what makes the band genuinely compelling.

Built around a low, hypnotic groove, the track moves with patience and control. Warm melodies in tow with a killer bassline drift beneath sparse instrumentation while silence and space become part of the composition itself. Rather than overcrowding the arrangement, Akrobat understands the power of restraint. Every pause earns its place.

At the centre of it all sits the real star of it all; Selen Korkutan’s vocal performance, bruised, smoky and magnetic throughout, is the pull here. Her voice carries a gravelled intimacy that feels both seductive and slightly haunted, never over-sung or forced.

There is something deeply emotive in the way she delivers the track, pulling the listener inward rather than demanding attention outright. It becomes immediately clear why the press has described her as “a star in the making”.

Beneath her vocal, a sparse, steady drum kick quietly holds the entire song together. That pulse becomes the backbone of the track, allowing its hypnotic atmosphere to unfold gradually rather than explode outward. Many bands would have buried a song like this beneath layers of production trying to manufacture momentum. Akrobat instead trust repetition, tension and mood.

There are moments too where the piano lines subtly lean toward something reminiscent of early The Doors. Not in an overtly retro way, but in the loose, nocturnal feel they bring to the track’s atmosphere. Those drifting keys add a slightly psychedelic undercurrent beneath the modern production, giving “Dirty Gathering” an uneasy late-night energy that lingers long after the song ends.

Lyrically, the track engages with misogyny and the psychological residue of modern online culture, though importantly it avoids turning itself into slogan or sermon. Korkutan describes the song as engaging with “what’s left unsaid as much as what is voiced,” and that restraint becomes one of its greatest strengths. In lesser hands, themes like this can become heavy-handed or overly didactic. Akrobat instead choose atmosphere over outrage, trusting emotional weight to carry through tone and texture rather than blunt messaging.

Recorded at Windmill Lane Studios, the production feels cinematic without becoming indulgent. The mix leaves room for shadow and movement, allowing the song to slowly bloom toward its closing moments.

You can hear traces of post-punk austerity, dream-pop haze and electronic minimalism throughout, yet the band avoid slipping into imitation. “Dirty Gathering” feels informed by influences without sounding trapped by them.

What makes Akrobat increasingly interesting is their refusal to flatten themselves into a single identifiable sound. The collaborative structure of the band, bringing together Shane Regan at the helm, Selen Korkutan on lead vocals, along with bandmates Tomonori, Paddy Lyons, Keith Broni and Peter Cahill, gives the project a fluidity many more rigid bands lack.

There is movement here. Openness. A willingness to let songs breathe into unexpected shapes.

Ireland’s alternative scene is crowded with bands trying desperately to appear urgent. Akrobat do something far harder. They create atmosphere powerful enough to pull you inward without ever raising their voice. “Dirty Gathering” confirms them not simply as ones to watch, but as artists already building a genuinely distinctive sonic world of their own.

Check them out on Instagram.