music
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Dótts O’Connor sits in that space Irish music does best when it’s honest about itself. There’s no overproduction of identity, no chasing of trend cycles, just a steady pull toward storytelling that feels lived in rather than constructed. His work leans into narrative, not as a stylistic choice but as a necessity, shaped by place,…
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We reviewed Sean Griffin’s single “Be My Girl” a few months back, a track that hinted at something more stripped and more personal sitting just beneath the surface. Now, with his debut solo album People Are Mad out in the world, that shift comes fully into focus. After decades fronting The Ruffians and building a…
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Our Rating 7/10 There’s a point in an artist’s career where the question shifts. It stops being about how big they can go and starts being about what they choose to hold onto once they’ve already been there. The Weight of the Woods sits right in that space. This is Dermot Kennedy pulling everything inward.…
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Our Rating 10/10 Some songs arrive loudly, demanding attention. Others move differently. “Intimacy” doesn’t push its way in. It draws you closer, slowly, until you realise you’ve stepped into something far more exposed than expected. This is Loah working with intent and control. The production is stripped back but deliberate, built around space rather than…
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Our Rating: 8/10 “Body” knows exactly what it’s trying to do, and to its credit, it commits. Built on a fluid Afro Fusion foundation, the track leans into rhythm as its driving force. There’s a physicality to it that makes sense once you understand Mighty Koba’s approach. This is music designed to move first and…
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Our Rating: 10/10 “I Like Her” is built on instinct. You can hear that immediately. There’s a looseness to it that comes from its origin as a freestyle. The melody sits naturally, the hook is simple but effective, and the rhythm carries that familiar Afrobeat pulse that makes the track easy to fall into. It’s…
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Our Rating: 7/10 “Battle Chatter” positions itself as a moment of reclamation, not collapse. That much is clear from the first listen. Built on a dark pop foundation with trip-hop undercurrents, the track moves with a slow, deliberate pulse. It doesn’t rush. It doesn’t explode. Instead, it builds a kind of controlled intensity that mirrors…
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Our Rating: 7/10 There’s a quiet confidence to “Homegirl” that doesn’t shout for attention, and that’s both its strength and its limitation. Built around warm acoustic guitar, soft harmonies and that lightly percussive xylophone line, the track leans fully into a kind of storybook folk aesthetic. It’s gentle, melodic, and intentionally small in scale. You…
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Linda Coogan Byrne is a leading publicist, DEI strategist, and author. She also is the founder of Why Not Her?, a gender equity campaign aiming to challenge systemic bias in media and the music industry. In a new Frontiers in Communication article that presents an analysis of gender-based exclusion in the Irish and UK music industries between 2018 and…
The Industry Review 