Young Irish artists you need to know

Our list of what might be your new favourite Irish artists.

If you want to go to more live shows, discover new music and support local artists, we got you covered! We have listed below incredibly talented young Irish artists you need to know playing shows all around the country.

The Murder Capital

Based on the caustic strength of one live recording of “More Is Less”, which went viral on YouTube, and feverish word of mouth from those who have been lucky enough to attend these early gigs, The Murder Capital has built a formidable reputation. In just over a year, they’ve sold out shows in their hometown of Dublin, played with Slaves, Shame, IDLES and fellow countrymen Fontaines DC and seen the likes of the NME, Loud & Quiet, Dork and DIY back them already – with The Irish Times calling them out as Ireland’s best new rock band.

With debut single “Feeling Fades” and its follow up “Blue & Green” the band fulfilled their early promise – delivering two propulsive slices of post-punk recorded with Flood (PJ Harvey, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Foals). In one of their rare interviews, the band have stated they are driven by the genuine desire to affect cultural change, and when front-man James McGovern repeats the lyric “the now elapsed ‘round you and me, and it kept us all together” on “Feeling Fades”, you start to believe that they’re capable of achieving just that.

Upcoming Show: 16 August – The Button Factory, Dublin. Get Tickets.

Saint Sister

Saint Sister are a duo from the North of Ireland formed in 2014. They have quickly established themselves as one of the most talked about bands in Ireland. 2015’s ‘Madrid’ was a breakout success, playlisted on BBC Radio 1, RTE and across European radio. Festival highlights at Glastonbury, Electric Picnic and Latitude and support slots with The National, Lisa Hannigan and Hozier have secured their reputation as a phenomenal live band.

Critically acclaimed, they have won support from key tastemakers at NPR, The Guardian, The Independent (UK) and Billboard Magazine. At home, they were voted the “Best Irish Act” by the readers of The Irish Times and nominated again for the 2018 Choice Music Prize, both for Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

Upcoming Shows: 19 September – Empire Music Hall, Belfast | 21 September – Roisin Dubh, Galway | 27 & 28 September – Pepper Canister Church, Dublin. Get Tickets.

Soulé

Two times Choice Music Song of the Year nominee, Soulé is the leading force in a new wave of emerging Irish talent. Her upbeat, catchy hits ‘Troublemaker’ and ‘What Do You Know’ have surged well past the coveted multi-million streams and only recently released summer banger Love Tonight has earned her the number 1 spot on Irish radio charts.

Soulé’s style is genre-bending, having evolved from a new cross-genre generation, her music draws on various influences from electronic pop to neo-soul, dance and hip-hop. Her creations showcase the contrast of her soulful visceral voice over beds of thumping electronic beats, married with classical harmonies. A passionate singer who blends irresistible, catchy music with unapologetic lyrics about heartbreak and reclaiming confidence. 2019 is set to be a momentous year for Soulé, having firmly established her sound with her debut EP Love Cycle.

Upcoming Show: 20 September – Lost Lane, Dublin. Get Tickets.

Elkin

ELKIN draw influence from the R’n’B, pop, indie and folk worlds. With bassist Peter and guitarist Conor of Hatchlings, plus drummer Rob, “the band display an eclectic mix of R&B, pop and hip-hop beats, bolstered by alternating female vocals and smooth guitars.” Stephen Porzio, Hot Press. In February 2019, ELKIN released a new single Green Eyes, a collaboration with Æ MAK producer lulla-hush – ‘a sweet-sad pop banger infused with plenty of souls’ (Nialler9).

Upcoming Show: 19 October – Upstairs At Whelan’s, Dublin. Get Tickets.

Lankum

Dublin based four-piece, Lankum has an alchemical ability to combine traditional folk roots with contemporary undercurrents to forge music that is dark, mysterious and transcendental. Comprising brothers Ian Lynch (uillean pipes, tin whistle, vocals), Daragh Lynch (vocals, guitar) alongside Cormac Mac Diarmada (fiddle) and Radie Peat (harmonium, accordion, vocals), Lankum channel a diverse set of influences and histories to create a beautifully rare thing: a songbook from and for the people.

Born of years criss-crossing Dublin’s folk and experimental scenes, their two albums Cold Old Fire (2013, recorded under former name Lynched) and Rough Trade debut Between The Earth and Sky (2017) breath new life into ancient/modern rituals with urban punk fervour, rural psycho-geography and, underpinning it all, the eternal drone of the uilleann pipes.

Upcoming Show: 19 October – Roisin Dubh, Galway. Get Tickets.

Fangclub

The act of gathering up all of your fear, paranoia, addiction, love and despair and hurling it into a microphone, ripping it out of a guitar. Just such a record is Fanclub’s second album ‘Vulture Culture’, an emotional maelstrom of violence, mental illness, suicide, social vampirism, drug overdoses and not a little romance, howled out in some of the most infectious and visceral rock music of the decade.

Fangclub packed the summer out with festivals, an incredible support slot with METALLICA and with a headline UK and EU tour this autumn.

Upcoming Shows: 19 October – Roisin Dubh, Galway | 24 October – Empire Music Hall, Belfast | 25 October – Vicar Street, Dublin. Get Tickets.

David Keenan

David Keenan is an Irish songwriter, a young Artist who uses his lyrics to paint pictures with words on canvases of silence, curating a body of work which is steeped in the poetic tradition of old but delivered in such a way that is entirely his own.

Creating an inner world through narrative song-writing while leaving the door slightly ajar for us to enter and act out scenes, his live shows have been described as visceral, spiritual and communal events where Keenan moves between a one man and his guitar monologue to fronting a band whose sound only acts as a carrier for the songs further solidifying their intent.

Having been asked to play alongside the likes of Mick Flannery, Hothouse Flowers, Damien Dempsey and Glen Hansard, David is fast becoming one of Ireland’s most talked about young Artists.

Upcoming Show: 13 January 2020. Olympia Theatre, Dublin. Get Tickets.