Anocht

‘I Don’t Recognise You’ – the new NewDad at the Róisín Dubh

December 2, 2023

Precocious talent is something we audiences wonder and marvel at.

There always comes a point when the artists grow up though, or at least have to try to move on from the acclaimed early work, and that can be tricky – especially when that work was of a personal nature, crafted during turbulent late teenage years, and especially when audiences just don’t want to let go.

I’ve been around long enough to remember Ireland’s pop superstar CMAT deleting the spectral, haunting demo of ‘I’d Want U’ from Soundcloud, citing discomfort with so many people having an insight into the mind of the seventeen year old version of herself who wrote the song. Of course, on the global scale, you can also point to Radiohead’s rocky relationship with ‘Creep’, a planetary megahit they usually refuse to play live.

Maybe it’s appropriate then that one of NewDad’s biggest early hits is called ‘I Don’t Recognise You’. Introduced last night in an offhand way – “now we’re going to play the song that everybody seems to like,” frontwoman Julie Dawson said with a slightly nonplussed expression. It’s an understatement for sure – with over six million streams, it’s a song that in a fairer world would make sure they eat for life. It’s a fantastic demonstration of Dawson’s gift of painting the personal in such accessible, universal language and it got a huge hometown reception in an adoring room.

Similar too, was ‘Ladybird’ – “we don’t play this often, but people love it when we do”. Of course they do – for my money the best song they’ve released yet, the verse-ending roars of “I’m a fucking mess” were a brilliant opportunity for to let out anything troubling us inside.

NewDad are on the cusp of releasing their first album proper. Madra is due out on January 26 and us lucky ducks this sold-out homecoming show in the Róisín Dubh got a sneak preview of the first live outing for many of the new tracks. It was something that visibly weighed on the mind of Dawson as guitar glitch here and a missed line there led to increased tension in her as the set moved on. She got a release during recent single ‘Let Go’, where a repeated refrain built to one of the few moments in the set when herself and fellow guitarist Sean O’Dowd properly made a wall of noise. It was a brief, thrilling flurry made more magic by the contrast with the band’s usual masterful restraint.

Hon Mervue!

Another moment that looked cathartic for Dawson came in the encore – when roadies came out with two low stools for the front of the stage I was thinking of the trad influences drummer Fiachra Parslow displays on the band’s Spotify playlists, and sure enough he emerged with bodhrán in hand. Dawson joined on guitar for a spellbinding performance of new track ‘White Ribbons’. To present a song in such stripped-back fashion perhaps showcased a new confidence in her songwriting – “that was really, really cool” Dawson beamed afterwards.

Of course, that songwriting ability was always there. Now signed to Atlantic records and set to tour Europe when the album’s out, it’s going to be fantastic to see NewDad – the band who formed in school – represent Galway and the Wesht throughout the world. I just hope they don’t forget the songs that made them too quickly.
NewDad live at the Róisín Dubh

November 11, 2021

Irish hearts can be fickle things. It’s very easy to jump the shark here (and sure what would ya be at that for?) Local love and pride can turn to begrudgery almost overnight. Or so the narrative goes.

How does the script stand up to a band that has emerged from a covid-imposed chrysalis almost fully formed? Can a gig-going community claim a full connection to a band if they haven’t necessarily put in their ten-thousand hours of support slots for outsider headliners?

It’s the second night of a sold-out Irish tour for Galway’s own NewDad, directly preceding a UK run that’s punctuated by a quick jaunt to Paris for the Pitchfork festival. Rarefied ground for such a young band, one that formed in school and with just one EP and a smattering of singles under their belt. The air at the Róisín Dubh crackled with excitement as they finally got the live platform they needed to unfurl those wings.

It’s a winning formula that NewDad have – understated but clever vocal melodies and structures akin to the Cure and Pixies’ poppier moments. Frontwoman Julie Dawson is a magnetic focal point on stage, and it was a delight to see her draw power from the crowd’s love as they felt their way into the show.

It helps to win a crowd over when you’ve got lines like these, on ‘Blue’ –

While you took your time, you wasted mine, I said I wanted you, you said you felt too blue
And while you were making up your mind I lost mine

That’s a chorus begging to be written in the back of teenage textbooks, and the Róisín’s reaction to its early set appearance was as if everyone there had grown up with it. A thrilled Dawson couldn’t help but let out a mid-song roar of delight. Yup!

There’s an admirable restraint to their dreampop sound too – a feedback loop ensued at one point after Dawson pointed the mic for another big chorus moment, and guitarist Sean O’Dowd was quick to wheel the mic-stand around to cut it out.

No self-indulgent trashing wig-outs here, even if the rare moments where Dawson let exuberance take over with a screamed vocal were a thrill. At times though, it meant that the set’s quieter moments simply didn’t land over the amped-up crowd.

Further singalongs to ‘I Don’t Recognise You’, ‘Cry’ and new single ‘Ladybird’ absolutely lifted the room – absolutely no worries about Galway taking the band to their hearts. Real cheers too – no astroturfed, PR-driven enthusiasm. A triumphant hometown return – before they ever left.

In a mid-lockdown interview earlier this year, drummer Fiachra Parslow told the NME: “We play Minecraft with a Hungarian fan every single day – he’s heard songs that aren’t even out yet.”

Galway will look on in pride as NewDad take those songs to Budapest and beyond in the very near future.
Jape live at the Grand Aul Stretch, Nimmo’s Pier

August 22, 2021

Been a while eh?

A return to gigging. For us and for Jape, who’s been holed up in Malmo making tunes for children’s TV shows for a few years now. (Some of which are bangers! Tour ’em someday, Richie).

Last time I caught Jape, at the first All Together Now (three years ago?!), we got a largely experimental set of mostly instrumental songs, some of which evolved into the body of 2019 release Senintel. That figured – in an interview beforehand he’d told me: “The human voice is so expressive, but once you say something, you’re tied to the meaning of what you say. As I get older, standing behind something that I say has become harder.”

Safe to say that things have changed a little over the past couple of years. Many voices have found new inspiration as the world halted. Richie Egan is one of Ireland’s best songwriters and to hear new works in tonight’s set come as a real treat.

It’s a stripped-back Jape in the marquee on the Claddagh tonight – Richie’s flanked only by Redneck Manifesto comrade Matthew Bolger. It’s stripped-back in front of them too – in what hopefully will be a strange but short-lived artefact of these times, we’re arranged in our pods on picnic tables safely spaced metres apart. The pair aren’t phased by the oddness though. “We know some of you haven’t seen each other for 18 months,” Richie says – “It’s alright if you chat away while we play!”

No sir, no dancing today

Opening with “Scorpio” from the 2011 Mercury-prize winning Ocean of Frequency is a lovely bit of fan service, but afterwards Richie signals what they’re here for – he has new stuff and it needs to be roadtested.

First up is the relatable but slightly too on-the-nose “Delete The Timeline”, and “Lashing Through The Minutes” touches on the ever-increasing speed of life. We get tight, well-crafted arrangements that suit the pair onstage, but it intrigues to think what more justice a full band or studio can do for these songs. “Heal These Wounds” in particular features lovely arpeggi that could be let off tonight’s taut leash.

We get some fresh arrangements of old gems too – particularly interesting was a more guitar-driven and airier “Metamorphosis”, and the playful melodies of “Graveyard” shine in this setting.

“We didn’t think we’d ever get to play Galway again,” Richie declares at one stage, and that acknowledgement of the surreality of the situation does hang over the occasion. It feels so close to normal, but we’re not there yet.

It’s appropriate then that this set full of temporary arrangements by a temporary lineup in a temporary venue full of temporary distance closes with a song that pays tribute to the ideals of conjuring magic out of embracing the ephemerality of nights like these – “Floating”.

We may not have been able to dance all night, but at least the music wasn’t shit.