MacD on Music: Brothers and Sisters

In the past (almost) four years, I’ve spoken to a lot of familial artists spanning all musical genres, from column #1 with Saint Sister’s Gemma Doherty or column #5’s Brother Ray (also featuring the first appearance in these pages of Lord Jane’s Clodagh May) to the star of multiple articles, the Barbiturates’ Father Flynn, the Grateful Mistake and Grandmaster of the Brothers of Fire Baptismal -33°.

This week, I’m talking to another artist of the family tradition, Killarney’s Junior Brother, who’ll be playing Sandino’s on the 21st of this month. I caught up with Junior recently to talk a bit about the gig, his new album ‘The End’ (available now in Cool Discs) and his musical origins:

“I got into music when I was very young. I started playing the piano when I was eight and the guitar when I was nine. I kept at the guitar more than the piano and as soon as I’d learnt a few chords I started writing songs, so I’ve been writing songs since I was about nine, around two years ago.”

Speaking about his musical influences: “In terms of my guitar playing, I love a lot of harp players. Alan Stivell, Derek Bell from the Chieftains, Joanna Newsom. She would also be very influential in my songwriting too. Then bands like Planxty, the Clancy Brothers, Slint. I’m very influenced by bands like early Genesis, King Crimson, sort of prog stuff like that. Little bits of hip-hop as well, Danny Brown and KRS One too. All sorts of things. I try to put them all in there so what comes out is maybe something that hopefully you’ve never heard before.”

Next, we spoke of ‘The End’ [disclaimer: this interview was done before the album was released]: “This is my third record. A goal of mine is to hone things and go deeper into aspects of my music that I’ve developed, dig further down, expand them and get better at what I’m doing each time. This album is probably the biggest leap I’ve taken as an artist, but it’s also the height of my development in terms of the style of music that I’ve been reaching for the last few years. It’s hit a peak that I’m very proud of. It’s a peak from which I can feel I can get even further in that journey. I’m really happy with it. I’m quite proud of where I’ve gotten to with my artistry.”

We moved on then to the gig: “I’ve never played Sandino’s before. I’ve heard it’s a great spot. I’ve played Derry before in St. Columba’s church for Other Voices with David Kitt during some of the worst period of Lockdown. The crowd were all spaced meters apart and wearing masks. It was quite bizarre, but I really loved the gig. Before that, I did a gig in Bennigan’s years ago. I really enjoyed that, and I’ve done a gig in Cool Discs. I’ve played a few times, but I’ve never been to Sandino’s so I’m really looking forward to that.”

After that, we spoke about the collaboration he did for Other Voices with Saint Sister: “It was December 2019 for Other Voices too. That was a great experience. They’re two phenomenal musicians. I was really impressed with them when we did that.”

To close our conversation, I asked him about any other artists he’s a fan of at the minute: “There’s a really good singer-songwriter from West Cork called Dáithí Shanahan. There’s also a great up and coming band from Dublin called Madra Salach. I caught them at All Together Now and they were great. There’s a band called Dug that are making waves now too, then there’s Róis. She’s from the north. She’s absolutely amazing and keeps getting better and better. Her last album ‘Mo Léan’ was an incredible project.”

READ MORE: MacD on Music

And that’s it from Junior Brother. His new album ‘The End’ is out now and he’ll be playing Sandino’s on November 21st. Doors are at 7 with the gig starting at 7.15. Tickets are available in Cool Discs for £11.

Now, onto other business. There’s new music from Wicklow-based artist ILA, who featured in this column in the summer of 2023 (I would’ve sworn it was more recent, but time is broken these days). Anyway, her latest single ‘Unforgettable’ was released last month and is available now on all good streaming services.

Next, we have new music from Belfast group Reflect, recently seen opening for CHERYM in Belfast and for Cora Harkin in the Nerve Centre. Their new single ‘Ocnus’ was released this past Friday and is also available on all good streaming services.

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The new music doesn’t stop there. Last Thursday also saw the release of the latest single from Dublin-based HAVVK. ‘Happening Again’ is the group’s first single following their acclaimed third album ‘To Fall Asleep’ and “explores destructive patterns of behaviour, built on a cyclical structure that mirrors the emotional spiral of dread and overwhelm”. It’s out now in the same places as every other song mentioned here.

And lastly, in this week’s trip from one end of the country to the other, we close with Derry’s own Dylan Bradley & the Heat, who have just released their second single ‘Susana’. In news that will surprise no one who’s read the last three paragraphs, it is available on all good streaming services.

Finally, time for the socials. Dylan Bradley can be found on Instagram @dylanbradleyheat, HAVVK @havvkmusic, Reflect @reflectbelfast, ILA @ila_music_official and Junior Brother @junior.brother.