The Goo 1
SEP '25 Nerves - Iarmhaireacht EP - David Carr Ne
rves return with another earthshaking EP. Raised in rural Mayo, their connection to Ireland’s folklore and mythology remains strong. The EP cover features Ogham script and wren-boys, evoking a sense of ancient and unsettling things, a feeling that permeates the tracks themselves. The interludes provide further insight, drawing from archival recordings and RTE documentaries. They reference stories of mythical beings and the isolation of parts of Mayo, which felt forgotten by the rest of the world. These themes resonate as true today as they were then. Other tracks explore mental health, such as ‘Dirty Fingers’ and ‘Takes a Second’ captures the knowledge of a relationship about to end. The musical tension in these tracks is amplified, assisted as always by Daniel Fox (Gila Band) on production duties. ‘Through my Chest’ will undoubtedly echo the live experience of noise passing through the body. “Act of Contrition” builds to a dizzying crescendo, while the arguable standout “Don’t Let Go” uses a relentless 4/4 to sustain the momentum. Fans of YARD or OWLS will surely appreciate this track. With two devastating EPs under their belt and a fervent live following, they’re poised to take us to new heights. memory of your teenage self. Ironically, it takes a lot of maturity and confidence to do what they’re doing. This can be heard on their latest release, Wake Me!, the first EP in their prolific discography, which already boasts two albums and fourteen singles in fewer than five years. Perhaps this is just my dumbass opinion, and your mileage may vary, but I found the EP’s bright production and vibrant, punky stylings to be a red herring to quite a melancholic songbook. Some people may dismiss the EP’s lyrics as kitschy throwbacks to pop-punk heartbreak tracks, but I felt a considered honesty amidst a ubiquitous malaise that spoke of insecurity, dissatisfaction, loneliness, yearning, and heartbreak. The lines just float you into their world on a cloud of empathy and compassion, as you want to reassure its creator that everything’s going to be OK. Three of the EP’s seven tracks have been released previously, but listening to them in this collective piece made me reevaluate them. The second track, “if you want me,” (which was released as a single in 2023) just broke my damn heart here, man! This is why I love this band: They draw you in with a façade of irreverent dilettantism, but as you lean in to sneer at it, it stabs you in the heart for ever doubting its depth. I I think there’s a lot of sincerity to this unserious band. Or maybe I’m just not in on the joke. Either way, I love it. Rún - Rún - Adhamh O’Caoimh Thanks Mom – Wake Me! – Aaron Kavanagh I don’t want to speak for the band’s intent, but when I first saw the Dublin indie- rockers Thanks Mom live, what I found was an act that was so self-assured and unafraid to harken back to the youthful wonder of people’s first bands. Other artists may consider their early constructions retrospectively sophomoric and try to repress them in fear of a cringe-induced aneurysm, but Thanks Mom seem to be saying, “No, don’t forget that! It was a fun time, remember?” This is demonstrated in their playful invocation of teenage frustration, which you get before you even hit the play button. Titles like “eat shit and die” and “I HATE THE WORLD!!!” alone playfully pay homage to the kind of righteous indignation of adolescents trying to communicate their generalised, unfocused, but sincerely-felt discontentment. If you can look at that and pretend not to get it, you’re killing the Stone and gravel underneath dancing acoustic guitars, weaving lines reminiscent of that original Wicker Man soundtrack. The ominous tones and weighty themes of ‘Paidir Poball (Pupil)’ set the tone for the coming forty five minutes. An interpretation of a common muse. Music that seems intuited as much as it is written. Brash and live and electric, Tara Mooney’s severe intonations are threaded between sludge leaning doom riffs unfurling into wails of feedback. Immediate parallels can be drawn with ‘The Film’, Moor Mothers staggering collaboration with Sumac, and Julie Christmas’ work with Cult of Luna, but that’s largely to do with commanding and intense women lending their singular visions to apocalyptic heft. Rian Trench’s Neolithic drums carry rhythms that Jason Roeder might hypnotically bob the head to, amid the volcanic tides Diarmiud Mac Diarmuda’s bass lends to the onslaught. Across the board, brutal poetry delivered by vocals that are both ecstatic and unhinged,walls of bristling tension, squalls of distortion like lightning striking. Far off electronic drones swell like a carnyx on the horizon. Savage and primitive hymns. Staggering production captures the tectonic heft with gristled quality. As thesprawling, meditative ‘Caioneadh’ brings the affair to a poignant close, Rún are charting courses mapped by luminaries like Swans, while drawing from the charming well of inspiration that contemporaries (and relatives) like Lankum and ØXN have helped to shape. It’s been a good year in Irish music. The Diarmuida clan are usually involved. This is no exception. Gold. 13