Anocht

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.