From Carlow, Ireland
Recommended if you like The Mary Wallopers, Chappell Roan, Anohni
Up next SlutTrad EP out now, UK and Ireland tour starts in October
At a recent London show, SexyTadhg – real name Tadhg Griffin – appeared in a glittering pink corset, channelling high-camp cabaret. And then, they started playing the fiddle.
This, per the name of their latest EP, is SlutTrad, bringing pop exuberance together with Irish traditional music via vocals, piano and said instrument. Griffin grew up playing fiddle and singing Sean-nós (old-style Irish) vocals, but pulled away in their teen years – with a growing understanding of their own queerness came an uneasy sense that the trad scene didn’t have space for someone like them.
But the continuing folk revival and rise of groups such as Biird and the Mary Wallopers showed Griffin that Irish trad could be a broad church and that by creating within it, they could help foster inclusivity. Hence, their recording of Róisín Dubh, a standard of Ireland’s political music sung in haunting a cappella, marking Griffin’s arresting homecoming to Sean-nós singing.
Spanning rollicking folk-rock, disco, burlesque-y big-band jazz and blues, this latest EP feels like the SexyTadhg vision has been realised: the playful energy of Townie Girl, their nod to upbeat alcopop-fuelled 00s Euro house topped with quickfire lilting lyrics; the Corrs-style harmonies on the melancholy Therapist’s Knife; even the delicate layers of synth and vocals reminiscent of Anohni on Lavender Corcra.
For all the near-frenetic genre fluidity, the thing that really unites SlutTrad is SexyTadhg’s total sense of freedom. Queering trad, marrying heart and heritage in a boundless voice, no telling where it might venture yet. Tara Joshi
This week’s best new tracks
J Hus – Moonlight
Matching a gorgeously understated Afro-house beat, J Hus uses a new hoarse vocal register alongside his mellifluous singing, on a track that sounds almost romantic but which actually documents gun crime. BBT
Marina Herlop – Jaque
A truly majestic, kaleidoscopic orchestration from the Catalan composer: as intricate as Djrum’s last record, as foreboding as Björk at her grandest, with its own spectacular vibration of percussion and choral vocals. LS
Wolf Alice – Gospel Oak
Released before a big show in London’s Finsbury Park this weekend, this stripped-back single’s sombre refrain – “the wheels keep on turning, you don’t see me waving” – is a departure from the hopefulness on last year’s album The Clearing but carries on its nostalgic, introspective tone. RPM
The Big Moon – Gravity
A spiritual sequel to Robyn’s Blow My Mind – revised as a tribute to her toddler – in which Juliette Jackson turns the force with which her kid runs into her after nursery into a love song that’s equally crisp and epic. LS
Ma Sha – Spinmachine
For anyone who enjoyed the more mosquito-buzzing end of DJ Koze’s last record: the New York breakdancer-turned-producer turns in a tough, heads-down shimmy of tangy drums and high-pressure synths. LS
Topdown Dialectic – False LP A – 10
From False LP A, the US producer’s extraordinary double album of dub-minded, elegantly arranged tracks on the edgelands of house and techno, track 10’s gently bumping beat is grazed and tickled by velveteen-soft effects. BBT
Queen of Jeans – Still Learning
The band’s first release in more than two years, Still Learning has an airy, rocky sound that hints at 90s shoegaze, like a rough-around-the-edges song by the Cranberries if they were from Philadelphia. RPM
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