TD 1
t the end of August, the Singular Artists-present
ed Wider Than Pictures concert series will return to Collins Barracks at the National Museum of Ireland in Stoneybatter. Now in its fourth iteration, Wider Than Pictures has become well-regarded for its cosy, open-air experiences featuring a litany of must-see-in-yourlifetime acts, and this year’s edition is no exception. From August 19th to 24th, the former military barracks will welcome the British alt-rock band Wunderhorse, the American singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten, the legendary British synth-pop group The Human League, the longtime British indie rockers Kaiser Chiefs, and the American indie-folk artist Father John Misty. Kicking off the series with two shows on the 19th and 20th is the Cornwall four-piece Wunderhorse, who are making a huge leap from their previous headlining Dublin show at Vicar Street last autumn. “I think we were kind of looking at a venue that was maybe just the next step up, and the first one sold out really quickly, which was a total surprise,” the band’s frontman and founder, JaOpposite: Wunderhorse Above: Sharon Van Etten Left: Father John Misty cob Slater, tells Totally Dublin of their shows. “We thought we’d be lucky if we made the tickets on that one. “So, we added the extra night, which is very, very surreal, because the first gigs we did in Ireland were the two Iveagh Gardens nights with the Fontaines [D.C.] boys. I remember walking out on that stage and thinking, ‘Fuck me, this is a load of people!’ So, to be doing our own sort of version of that is great. I hope people enjoy it. We aim to deliver on those two nights, for sure.” Jacob spoke to us on a rare week off, in between completing a headlining tour of mainland Europe and jetting off to begin the summer festival circuit. Since the release of their second album, Midas, last August, the band’s leap in popularity in Ireland has been mirrored across the world (especially in their motherland, where they played to a sold-out Alexandra Palace in May). “It’s hard to view objectively when you’re in it,” Jacob says of their success. “I definitely have noticed a change in the last year or eighteen months. For me, obviously, this is something I’ve had my eye on since I was sixteen/seventeen, which was ten years ago. So, it definitely feels more gradual to me, because I’m the one who’s done the foundational work, but I can definitely understand, to an outsider, how it looks like it’s happened quite quickly.” Thanks to some highly coveted support and festival slots, Wunderhorse required little acclimatisation for these larger headlining shows. “Back in the early days, we were lucky enough that artists who are much better established saw us or heard about us and said, ‘Hey, you should come on the road with us,’ which was sort of a baptism of fire, but it was really great,” Jacob says. “People like Sam Fender picked us up, Fontaines, Pixies – and to see people doing something at that level… it was a very welloiled machine… it was like, ‘OK, cool. Well, 21