Caimin Gilmore: BlackGate (New Amsterdam/Ten Spot) ★★★☆☆
You might not be familiar with the name, but you’ll know some of the artists the double bassist Caimin Gilmore has collaborated with: Sam Amidon, Lisa Hannigan, Jessie Buckley, Dermot Kennedy and Aaron Dessner. Musicians like Gilmore are rare, and debut albums like this one are rarer still. Usually residing between indie and minimalism, folk and orchestral, contemporary and traditional, Gilmore veers into compositional territory here with a suite of instrumentals featuring accompaniment from the cellist Kate Ellis, a fellow member of Crash Ensemble. Exquisite harp playing by Lavinia Meijer, as well as synthesiser swirls, adds to the sonic gravity, resulting in the beautiful quartet of MVE I, MVE II, MVE III and MVE IV.
David Keenan: Salvable (Concord/Silva Screen) ★★★★☆
While we await the next studio album from David Keenan, this commissioned soundtrack for Salvable, the 2025 boxing-themed feature film by Björn Franklin and Johnny Marchetta, will do very nicely. Blending songs (Stay Still, The Hum, I Leave You Gone, Rip Your Eyes from Your Phone) and score cowrites with his fellow Dundalk composer Paul Campbell (Requiem, Cogadh, Served, Heart to Heart, I Leave You Ethereal), the mood board is appropriately one of struggle and resignation. Is it one of the best singer-songwriter soundtracks since that by Alex Turner, of Arctic Monkeys, for the 2010 film Submarine? We reckon so.
Tebi Rex: Fin (Self-Released) ★★★☆☆
It’s never a pleasure to say goodbye to an artist you feel has never been fully valued, either critically or commercially. The rap duo Max Zanga and Matt Ó Baoill have spent 10 years presenting music with dry humour and astute social observations, as well as live performances that matched the passion of the songs. Alas, the aptly named Fin is the duo’s final album. It is also their best, with more depth than you might think a swansong could provide. Between tracks such as The Ship of Theseus (a view of artistic growth inspired by Plutarch’s study of personal identity), And I’m Mad (an appraisal of grief – “This is our last album and it’s the first one you won’t hear”), Ireland’s Full (spiky, pointed trad-rap) and I’m Cooked, I’m Done (resigned romance, featuring the poet Natalya O’Flaherty), Zanga and Ó Baoill sign off with panache, regret and, one senses, relief.
Rún: Rún (Rocket) ★★★★☆
Comprising three interdisciplinary artists – Tara Baoth Mooney, Rian Trench and Diarmuid Mac Diarmada – Rún is the culmination of several years of collaboration. Fusing their creative characteristics on a debut album that is inspired, according to Mac Diarmada – brother of the Lankum and Poor Creature member Cormac – by “dreams, synchronicities and other uncanny influences found in everyday life”, they make improvisation the heart of the album. Influenced by experimentalists such as Sun O))), William Basinski, Throbbing Gristle, Pauline Oliveros and Psychic TV (as well as more recognisable acts, such as Talk Talk and Portishead), they channel the music into areas that are as primal as they are mesmeric. The closing track, Caoineadh, is stunning.
