Ireland Tunes - Round-up #3

Here's a couple of tunes from the island that have been floating The Metaphorical Boat recently.
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The Emerald Armada - Strangers

The Belfast folk quintet The Emerald Armada have marked themselves out as one of the most promising acts to come out of Northern Ireland in recent months off the back of several energetic and well-received live gigs, culminating in a sold-out launch of their debut E.P last week. The strongest track from the E.P is "Strangers", with sing-along lyrics and incredibly engaging guitar licks.

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We Are Mr.West - Neighbourhood Watch

Typical. You wait for ages for one great piano-pop artist to come out of Derry, then two emerge from the same family. Dominic O'Callaghan, who performs under the name We Are Mr.West, is the brother of Eoin, who fronts blog favourite Best Boy Grip. His latest release, "Neighbourhood Watch", showcases the project's pechant for lovelorn piano music. Their sound is still a little rough around the edges, but there is heaps of potential to be found, especially when he embraces the sillier side of music (check out the delightfully playful "Sheep in Wolves Clothing").   ----------------------------------

Cfit - Triage

Dublin based sextet Cfit have made their latest single "Triage", which they launched at The Grand Social in the city last week, available as a free download. It's a rollicking good heavy indie-rock tune that calls to mind the sonic experimentation of Bloc Party's "Intimacy" album.