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gig Neneh Cherry “Is it fallen leaves, the bird s
hit on my sleeve… just because I’m down, don’t step all over me” (Fallen Leaves) Neneh Cherry returned with Broken Politics, her fifth studio album last year and her second one to be produced by Kieran ‘Four Tet’ Hebden. You can hear the cross-over tinkerings from his New Energy album on intro track Fallen Leaves and it informs most of the album in an unintrusive manner. Cherry’s mellow, yet incisive, musings are embellished by delicate touches such as a xylophone on Synchronised Devotion. It might, on occasion, feel like a Sonos speaker soundtrack best enjoyed with floor-toceiling windows looking out on a forest. And then Natural Skin Deep lands – the dream marriage of their collaborations with Ornette Coleman. Buffalo Stance from Raw Like Sushi dropped 30 years ago. Rest assured Cherry’s still got it. The Academy, Saturday February 16, €35 GIG Why-Axis Why-Axis aka Seán Ryan is part of the new kings of hip hop in the country who are flexing and morphing the genre to their own will and needs with thrilling results. Popping and dropping singles such as Fly With Me, High, A Downtown Girl and Turn Around are easy indicators that Why-Axis knows how to get bounce and swagger from his sounds. Expect a progression from Knockanstockan (2018) to Longitude this summer as Why-Axis rides the wave he’s also creating. He’s also collaborating with some fellow buzzers such as Elliot Ruddy on the motion graphics for Turn Around. Get clued in. The Grand Social, Saturday February 23, €10 FESTIVAL Dublin International Film Festival The annual festival rolls out the red carpet for a slew of Irish and international releases. As always, it’s a category mixture of first glimpse and overlooked, yet worthy of attention. It opens with John Butler’s well received Papi Chulo which pivots around an unexpected friendship between an alienated weatherman and a middle-aged Latino migrant worker in LA. Others worth catching include Bo Burham’s Eighth Grade (pictured) which will see him in attendance also. Greta, Neil Jordan’s latest thriller starring an ever dependable Isabelle Hupert, hopefully marks a long overdue return to form for the auteur. Fresh from Sundance is Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s while Alice Rohrwacher’s Happy As Lazzaro is a charming Italian comedy/drama and winner of best screenplay at Cannes. Gaza, Land Without God (on Mannix Flynn) and What Time is Death? (on the KLF) spearhead the Irish documentary programme. Wednesday February 20 to Sunday March 3 diff.ie 88