Madra Salach: The Snarling Irish Folk Band Bringing Feral Energy to the Genre
With a feral energy and a Liam Gallagher growl, the Dublin band Madra Salach is making waves in the Irish folk revival. Their music, which blends traditional elements with a modern edge, has been described as a great evolution of a venerable genre. The band’s name, meaning “dirty dog” in Irish, perfectly captures their raw, unpolished sound.
A New Force in Folk
Madra Salach’s sound builds on the work of other revival architects like Lankum and Lisa O’Neill, incorporating eerie shruti box drones and carefully layered instrumentation. Frontman Paul Banks’s voice has an astonishing force and clarity, with a tempestuous, attack-and-withdraw relationship with the microphone that adds a hint of Gallagher’s swagger. The result is an exciting, beguiling package that pushes the boundaries of folk music.
Debut EP and Live Performances
Their January debut EP, It’s a Hell of an Age, showcases an understanding of the long, quiet ascent that suddenly becomes steep and loud, a hallmark of traditional Irish music, house, techno, and drum’n’bass. Covers of canonical songs like Spancil Hill and Murphy Can Never Go Home highlight the evergreen quality of original tracks such as Blue & Gold and The Man Who Seeks Pleasure. New flows seamlessly into the old, creating a timeless feel.
As-yet-unreleased songs on their live setlist suggest the imminent arrival of punkish antagonism and pace, tempering the mournful balladry of the EP. This evolution makes for an unexpected alloy of purity, poison, and potency.
This Week’s Best New Tracks
Alongside Madra Salach, several other artists have released standout tracks this week:
- Yu Su – Cul de Sac: The Chinese musician’s new album Foundry walks a line through techno, ambient, downtempo, and shoegaze. This track pulses like a lightship in fog.
- Loathe – Revenant (ft Nowhere2run): Ether-splinteringly loud metalcore from the returning Liverpudlians, with time signature changes that evoke the feeling of being jostled in a circle pit.
- Hekt – Forever (ft Smerz): The Danish producer brings out an unusually sentimental side in his acerbic countrywomen, contemplating eternity with a lover to puckish trance.
- Jura – You Make a Fire, You Make a Camp: Another Copenhagen standout, splicing voices of ML Buch, Clarissa Connelly, Ydegirl, and Helene Norup Due into a fragmented beauty reminiscent of Talk Talk and Peter Gabriel.
- Citizen – Highs and Lows: Brawny yet poppy midwest emo with a flexing rhythm section, as frontman Mat Kerekes howls towards emotional clarity.
- Ceebo – Parable of a Skinnyman: The UK MC confronts being overlooked, trumpeting his greatness while wryly calling out the industry.
- Kalia Vandever – Hubbard Road: The Brooklyn trombonist’s debut for International Anthem features ruminative, searching notes paired with steady, melancholic piano.
Madra Salach will be playing festivals this summer and touring the UK in autumn. Their debut EP It’s a Hell of an Age is out now.
