The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - Number One

1. Eels - Today Is The Day

"Today is the day that you see me

As a man who will always change

Who knows the only things to count on

Are life is quick, and life is strange"

And The Metaphorical Boat's favourite song of 2018 goes to a song from one of our favourite all-time bands, joining previous year-end chart toppers like The Vaccines, Bears Den & Public Service Broadcasting. "Today Is The Day" is a song that falls on the 'hopeful' side of the Eels musical catalogue, and is a joyous, uplifting song that really perks you up at the time when you really need it. The music video's pretty great as well, it's a little ball of sunshine, in embedded form. 

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 5-2

We're tantalisingly close to finding out what The Metaphorical Boat's Top Song of 2018, but before we do, let us look at the songs that just missed out on the top spot - 

5. The Presets - 14U+14ME

Although the music of Australian duo The Presets helped to formulate my own musical tastes back in 2008 with songs like "Talk Like That" and "This Boy's In Love", in the intervening years I haven't listened to them that much. Until this year that is, when I heard their single "14U+14ME" (pronounced "one for you and one for me, confusingly enough), and fell back in love with them for a second time. It's an heavy electronic track that hooks you in from the moment the beat drops 62 seconds in, and doesn't let up the rest of the song.

4. Confidence Man - Don't You Know I'm in a Band 

The Australian group make a 2nd appearance in this year's countdown with "Don't You Know I'm In a Band". The song sees Sugar Bones take a rare step up to lead vocals, and is filled with the same playful vibes and cut & paste pop that the band have become known for, with lyrics skewing the stereotype of what life as a high-flying musician is like.

3. Ciara O'Neill - Dreamer 

The song "Dreamer" by Ciara O'Neill, which listeners to The Metaphorical Boat podcast will undoubtedly know, was inspired by a Sylvia Plath short story from the collection "Johnny Panic & The Bible of Dreams", which is about a woman who is consumed by her inability to share the vivid dreams of her husband.

It a a song that I've heard Ciara play live for a few years, although it wasn't until this year that we got a studio recording of it, and boy, it was worth the wait. The string-swept dark folk song got right under my skin, and stayed with me throughout the year. It's the only song released this that brought me to tears. And I don't have tear ducts.

2. Brand New Friend - Girl 

"Girl" by Brand New Friend is the kind of song that doesn't mess around, and doesn't have a bit of fat on it at all. In less than two minutes, we get two verses, two choruses, a guitar solo, and then both the verse and chorus simultaneously. It is an infectious slice of youthful pop-punk that never outstays its welcome.

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 10-6

We're in to the top 10, with songs that ranked 10 to 6 on the countdown, as well as a few words on what's so great about each of the songs in question - 

10. Isaac Gracie - Last Words

I don't really listen to Radio 1 as much as I used to in the past, although given that I wouldn't have discovered such wonderful gems like "Like Words" by Isaac Gracie without it. It's the kind of emotional, acoustic folk that harks back to Nick Drake & Jeff Buckley, as well as more contemporaneous artists like Ben Howard.

9. Suede - Life is Golden 

Now that Suede have got to the stage of their career where they're no longer chasing radio hits, their albums have become more self-contained pieces of music, without as many songs that you could call "single-worthy", whatever that means in this day and age. That doesn't mean that the albums can't have stand-out moments mind, as "Life Is Golden" can attest to. It's a rather grandiose track, with swelling strings and an anthemic chorus.

8. Snow Patrol - Life On Earth 

It was a long time coming, but after a 7 year wait, we were finally treated to new music from Snow Patrol. The highlight of the new music was "Life On Earth", a slow building emotional blanket of a song, which reminded us a little of "Ordinary World" in places.

7 . The Fratellis - Starcrossed Losers 

Now this is a band that we never thought would appear in one of our year-end countdowns, let alone in the top 10. We had more or less written The Fratellis off back in 2008, when they launched their 2nd album with the honest-to-God, ruddy awful "Mistress Mabel", when even now we think is one of the worst songs ever recorded.

None of their other music released in the intervening period really gave us any hope of getting us back on board, which is why when we bowled over "Starcrossed Lovers", we were surprised to discover it was a song by The Fratellis. It's a brilliant, updated version of the Romeo & Juliet story with a real emotional heart and a little rock swagger. Sometimes, it's nice to be surprised.

6 . George Ezra - Paradise 

George Ezra gets his third, and highest placing, entry in this year's list with the ubiquitous "Paradise". It's hard to underestimate just how much this song turned around his fortunes. After "Don't Matter Now", the lead track from this album, flopped, if this song hadn't gained enough traction he would probably have been dropped from his record label, loyalty be damned.

Thankfully for George, people really responded to "Paradise", it went on to become a monster top 10 hit, and led the way for "Staying At Tamara's" to be the biggest, non-soundtrack album of 2018. And it's a pretty great pop song to boot, so there's that as well.

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 15-11

We're getting closer to finding out what the most popular songs of 2018 have been for us, but before we enter the top 10 here's the songs that made it to numbers 15 through 11 on our list. It's a real international flavour, with four different continents being represented, with Australian baggy-influenced pop and shoegaze, Welsh rock legends, American country music with cliche-killing lyrics, and Japanese nu-metal revivalists -

15. Confidence Man - Out The Window



14. Manic Street Preachers - Hold Me Like a Heaven



13. EGOISM - Sorry



12. Kelsea Ballerini - I Hate Love Songs



11. Crossfaith - Wipeout

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 20-16

We're ascending up the pecking order now, with the songs that have landed between 20 and 16 on our countdown, with songs from an NI electro-popper, a Liverpudlian chill-waver, Macclesfield rockers, a Dublin-based genre-hopper, and Texan alternate-rock -

20. New Atlas - Dizzi

19. Pizzagirl - Gymnasium

  

18. Spring King - Animal 

17. Fjokra - Evening Lights 

16. Blue October - I Hope You're Happy 

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 25-21

Numbers 25 to 21 now, which includes some wonderful British hip-hop, one of the biggest hits of the summer, a satirical take on internet culture, Northern Irish alt-rock, and a Beatles-esque ode to the humble nightclub -

25. Jorja Smith - Blue Lights

24. George Ezra - Shotgun

23. The Hector Collectors - Overton Window 

22. Jealous of the Birds - Plastic Skeletons 

21. Matt Edible & the Obtuse Angels - Nightclubbing 

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 30-26

We're reaching the halfway stage now, with the songs that ranked 30-26 in our countdown for the year. This section features one of Northern Ireland's best singer-songwriters, some nostalgic dance music, a wonderfully powerful cover of a classic by The Cranberries, and two stalwards of mid-00s British indie-rock -

30. Ciaran Lavery - To Chicago

29. Boston Bun & DVNO - Spread Love (Paddington) 

28. Bad Wolves - Zombie 

27. Franz Ferdinand - Feel The Love Go 

26. The Wombats - Cheetah Tongue 

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 35-31

Numbers 35 to 31 next. In this part, we've got a heartbreaking song about the Orlando shootings, a Scottish purveyor of pop-rock, a sincere cover version of one of the most notable dance records of the 90s, a project by one of the people responsible for the Hamster Dance song and Daz Sampson's Eurovision entry, and a Cork singer-songwriter who also happens to run a podcast with the artist who was #49 in this year's countdown:

35. Gizmo Varillas - Losing You

34. ONR - American Gods

33. Nathan O' Regan - Moving Closer 

32. Spray - Anthologised By Cherry Red

31. Astræa - You're Not Alone

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 40-36

Numbers 40 to 36 are next in this five-song-at a-time countdown. Within the five songs in question is one of the biggest artists of the year with one of his tiniest hits of the year, his brother, one of the finest purveyors of alternative Irish folk, some infectious dance music, and the artist responsible for one of the greatest songs of all time with their own version of a Weezer standard:

40. George Ezra - Pretty Shining People

39. Toto - Hash Pipe

38. Ten Tonnes - Lay It On Me 

37. Joshua Burnside - A Man of High Renown 

36. Benin City - Final Form

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 45-41

Up next are songs from 45 to 41 in the countdown. This sections includes two top notch local singer/songwriters, Welsh indie-pop, Dutch/Finnish indie-rock, and a song about Belfast's top technological marvel, Titanic -

45. Seazoo - St Hilary Sings

44. King Cedar - Hard Luck Anodyne

43. Town of Saints - Up In Smoke

42. Public Service Broadcasting - White Star Liner 

41. Owen Denvir - Human Touch

The Metaphorical Boat's Top Songs of 2018 - 50-46

Time for the annual listageddon here at The Metaphorical Boat. Over the next few days we will be counting down the blog's top 50 songs of 2018. There will be songs that have featured on the blog, songs that didn't feature on the blog, songs that have graced our lovely Spotify playlists over the last 12 months, and songs that really should have featured. But regardless, they are all awesome, and hopefully there will be a few songs here that will float your Metaphorical Boat.

Let us begin, as we normally do, with the songs at numbers 50 through 46 in our favourite songs of 2018. The part of the countdown features some noise-rock from the North West of England, English folk, Dutch electro-rockers who aren't fans of orange, Omagh musican-cum podcaster extraordinaire, and Wolverine himself - 

50. Hugh Jackman - The Greatest Show



49. Son of The Hound - The Also Rans



48. De Staat - KITTY KITTY



47. Straw Bear - Be Prepared



46. Déjà Vega - Eyes of Steel

Chandler Juliet - tidal wave

It's great to hear a stripped back song that's rather engrossing. "tidal wave" (all lower case), is the latest song from Chandler Juliet, a singer/songwriter based in Los Angeles. Built around a simple guitar part and a subtle yet effective production style, the song is a ode to finding your place in the world once adolescence has passed by. It calls to mind a more organic version of "All I Need" by Air, which is no bad thing indeed.

"tidal wave" is taken from Chandler Juliet's upcoming E.P "elements", which is out in January 2019.

Bring On The Night - Hurts At Hello

Bring on The Night are a Manchester based electro-rock duo, who for the time being have chosen to keep their identities secret, hence the Commedia dell'Arte masks in the above promo picture, although they have been involved in quite a few musical projects before this.

"Hurts At Hello" is their debut single, and offers a great introduction to their music. It's ostensibly a rock song, although it weaves in a more hip-hop, electronic production in such a way that it doesn't feel like too much of a distraction.

"Hurts At Hello" is out now.

Conor Mason - We Watched The Sky Rotate

Derry based singer/songwriter Conor Mason has been involved with several music projects over the past few years, including being involved with blog favourites PORTS & Our Krypton Son. He's also released a number of solo albums over the years, with his first new album under his own name since 2012 due out next month.

As well as featuring a new version of a track that we first wrote about back in 2011 (which unfortunately is no longer available on the interwebs), the album also features the rather nice single "We Watched The Sky Rotate". If you're familiar with PORTS, it's musically in a similar musical area, an atmospheric piano-led folk track with a wistful & tender central melody.

"We Watched The Sky Rotate" is taken from Conor Mason's 4th solo album, "On The Surface", which is out on 2nd November.

Party Fears - Dog Star

Formed in Korea, based in Berlin, and with members from Northern Ireland & Australia (if you know a more continent-spanning band, then you've got more time on your hands than me), Party Fears are a group that I have known about for some time, even though it's only been recently that I've taken the time to listen to their music.

Their name has been etched into my psyche for the last year and a bit, largely because their stickers appear to have been strategically placed in Belfast city centre along the route that I take every Monday to Friday on my walk to that place that I go to every Monday to Friday. I also bumped into them earlier this year when they were at a Jealous of The Birds gig in the Oh Yeah Centre, where they spent quite a bit of time hiding behind a curtain in the venue.

But it is their music that they're most known for, and having released a warmly received album in 2017, they have just released a new single, "Dog Star", and if you're new to their music, it's a pretty great jumping-in point. It's an ace slice of disco-inspired art-pop which is quite infectious and poppy in spite of the sombre theme of the lyrics.

"Dog Star" is taken from their upcoming E.P "Just Friends", which is out on 12th November.

The Metaphorical Boat Podcast Episode 08 - The Northern Ireland Music Prize 2018

The nominations have been announced for the 6^th annual Northern Ireland Music Prize, the annual award given for the best album from Northern Ireland over the past 12 months. This year’s ceremony, on November 15^th, promises to be the biggest to date. It will be held in the Ulster Hall for the first time, and in addition to the best album category, it will also feature new awards for Best Single (which will be decided by a public vote), Best Live Act, and the Oh Yeah Contender award for the best up and coming act. And for the first time, there will be a cash prize for all the winners on the night. 

The nominees in each of the categories are:

Best Album

And So I Watch You From Afar - The Endless Shimmering
Ash - Islands
Bicep - Bicep
Brand New Friend - Seatbelts For Aeroplanes
Ciaran Lavery - Sweet Decay
Girls Names - Stains on Silence
Hannah Peel - Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia
Malojian - Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home
Robocobra Quartet - Plays Hard To Get
Ryan Vail - Distorted Shadows
Snow Patrol - Wildness
The Wood Burning Savages - Stability

Best Single

Arvo Party - Liberté
Ash - Buzzkill
Brand New Friend - Girl
Cherym - Take It Back
Hot Cops - Decay
Joshua Burnside - A Man of High Renown
Kitt Philippa - Human
Robocobra Quartet - You’ll Wade
ROE - Hey Thomas
Rosborough - Burn Blue
Snow Patrol - Life on Earth
The Wood Burning Savages - I Don’t Know Why I Do It To Myself


Oh Yeah Contender Award

Cherym
Hand Models
Hunkpapa
Rebekah Fitch
Roe

Best Live Act

And So I Watch You From Afar
Brand New Friend
Robocobra Quartet
Ryan Vail
The Wood Burning Savages

To discuss the 2018 Northern Ireland Music Prize, the captain of The Metaphorical Boat, Christopher McBride, is joined on the podcast by Robert Brown, the editor of Northern Irish music website Chordblossom, to talk through all the nominees, and who we think will win each of the prizes on the night. Plus, find out what happened to the captain when he found himself sat beside the lead singer of Snow Patrol at a prior Northern Ireland Music Prize ceremony.

Listen or download now on Soundcloud, Google Podcasts or on Apple Podcasts:

Egoism - Sorry

Now this is a song that ticks all of our metaphorical boxes. Egoism are a dreampop duo from Sydney comprising Olive Rush & Scout Eastment, and make the sort of breezy shoegaze that gets us giddy with excitement. Their new single is "Sorry", which is an infectious song that calls to mind elements of Alvvays, School of Seven Bells & The Pains of Being Pure At Heart, and combines them into one lush package. It's a great song, and when the blasts of guitar come in after 50 seconds, it put the song very much in the realms of our favourite song of the year to date.

"Sorry" is out now.

The Metaphorical Boat Podcast Episode 07 - Ciara O'Neill

On each episode of The Metaphorical Boat Podcast, Christopher McBride, the Captain of The Metaphorical Boat, will sit down with one of his favourite musicians, and over a cup of a lovely caffeinated beverage and a snack of the artist's choosing (The Captain always goes for Battenberg. Always), chat through the artist's life, musical highlights, and most importantly, how many sugars they take.

Our guest on this episode of The Metaphorical Boat Podcast is Portadown singer/songwriter Ciara O'Neill, who talks about her 2nd studio album "Arrow", her early musical upbringings, and her experiences of writing and performing in Nashville.

Listen or download now on Soundcloud or on iTunes:

Find out more about Ciara O'Neill on -
Official | Facebook | Twitter | Spotify

Hand Models - Banana

Belfast based 4-piece Hand Models have been building up a name for themselves locally over the past few years, gaining support from the Oh Yeah Centre's Scratch My Progress scheme, and gaining  radio play both locally and nationally with songs like "Skate Shoes". They've also been building up a name for themselves locally, the most recent of which being a well-regarded summer party in the Limelight to raise money for a mental health charity.

They've been a name that we've heard a lot about for some time, but it is their latest single that has really caught our ear. "Banana" is very much the epitome of slacker-rock in the Pavement mould, and that's not only due to the repeated refrain of "I did nothing" that recurs throughout the song. They've released a music video to go with it, which takes the title of the song as literal as you could possibly get, with the band dressing up in banana suits and getting up to various kinds of tomfoolery around places that anyone who's spent any time in Belfast will be immediately familiar with.

"Banana" is out now. 

Ciara O'Neill - Dreamer

I've been a fan of Portadown singer-songwriter Ciara O'Neill for a few years now. I enjoyed her album "The Ebony Trail" when it came out in 2016, and had the pleasure of seeing her live around the release of that album.

In amongst the songs from that album that she played, there was newer song in particular that I absolutely loved when performed live, which was "Dreamer". Inspired by a short story by Sylvia Plath, it did something that rarely happens at a live concert, which is to move me to near-tears. Whether it was the subject matter (about not being able to enter a loved one's dreams) or the emotionally-triggering vocals of Ciara that led to this reaction, I have no idea, but if a song can provoke such feelings, then it must be a special one indeed.

Which is why it was wonderful to see that in anticipation of her follow-up album, she has chosen "Dreamer" as one of the lead tracks (alongside "Hurtin'"). As is always the case with a song you fall in love with live, there was the worry that the song wouldn't live up to the solo-acoustic version that I've become accustomed to. Thankfully there's nothing to worry about - as Ciara's vocals are a brilliant as always, and the production is very much in keeping with the song - I'm very much a fan of the sweeping strings, which act as a great counterbalance.

"Dreamer" is taken from Ciara O'Neill's 2nd album, "Arrow", which will be released on July 9th.

The Metaphorical Boat Spotify Playlist - March/April 2018

For those of you who like your musical recommendations in playlist-able Spotify form, on a bimonthly basis The Metaphorical Boat posts a selection of songs that we have been enjoying over the prior eight weeks or so, containing songs that we've written about, new songs that we haven't written about but are enjoying nonetheless, and a few older but fantastic tracks that are currently floating our Metaphorical Boat.

Below you can find our playlist of songs that we really enjoyed in March & April 2018. If you like what you hear, or just want another playlist to add to your growing list of playlists, then we really hope that you'll take the time to visit the playlist on Spotify and give it a follow. You never know, your new favourite song of all time could be somewhere on this playlist!

This month's playlist feature songs from established artists like Blossoms, The Wombats, George Ezra, Jack White & James, songs from newer acts such as Benin City, Fjokra, Déjá Vega & ALLIGATOR, plus local acts like Blue Americans, Lauren Bird, Ciaran Lavery & Brash Isaac. Lots of great music from lots of great people for your ear-based amusement.



And because you need more than one playlist in your life, The Metaphorical Boat also has a rotating playlist of songs, which we will update on a regular basis. Lists are fun!

As soon as we come across a new song that we like, it will automatically go to the top of this playlist, and we will remove a song from the playlist as soon as it has been on it for 2 months, so if you give it a follow, you will always have a fine conveyor belt of fantastic music courtesy of us at The Metaphorical Boat. You can find the playlist as it stands as of now below -

New Atlas - Dizzi

Oh, we do love a finely formed, unashamedly pop song. New Atlas is the brainchild of Owen McKenna, who is previously from Northern Ireland but is now based in Liverpool. Since the launch of this project in late 2016, he's picked up lots of love from Radio 1 and the music supervisors at Made in Chelsea, as well as seeing one of his recent singles, "Morphine", receiving north of 100k streams on Spotify.

It is his latest single, "Dizzi", where we now join the band, and as far as an introduction to their sound goes, you can't really can't do any better. The song is a dizzy, sugar rush of a song, combining tropical pop with a synth-rock edge, it is a tune that should go down well with fans of Grouplove & The 1975, and is a song that we very much expect to be soundtracking an advert for an iPhone or another hip fruit-based device by the end of 2018.

"Dizzi" is out now.

The Metaphorical Boat Spotify Playlist - January/February 2018

For those of you who like your musical recommendations in playlist-able Spotify form, on a bimonthly basis The Metaphorical Boat posts a selection of songs that we have been enjoying over the prior eight weeks or so, containing songs that we've written about, new songs that we haven't written about but are enjoying nonetheless, and a few older but fantastic tracks that are currently floating our Metaphorical Boat.

Below you can find our playlist of songs that we really enjoyed in January & February 2018. If you like what you hear, or just want another playlist to add to your growing list of playlists, then we really hope that you'll take the time to visit the playlist on Spotify and give it a follow. You never know, your new favourite song of all time could be somewhere on this playlist!

This month's playlist feature songs from established artists like Eels, First Aid Kit, Jack White, Ride & Ash , songs from newer acts such as Confidence Man, Superorganism, Ten Tonnes, Gizmo Varillas & Patawawa, plus local acts like The Woof Burning Savages, King Cedar, Ciaran Lavery, Bui & Beauty Sleep. Lots of great music from lots of great people for your ear-based amusement.





And because you need more than one playlist in your life, The Metaphorical Boat also has a rotating playlist of songs, which we will update on a regular basis. Lists are fun!

As soon as we come across a new song that we like, it will automatically go to the top of this playlist, and we will remove a song from the playlist as soon as it has been on it for 2 months, so if you give it a follow, you will always have a fine conveyor belt of fantastic music courtesy of us at The Metaphorical Boat. You can find the playlist as it stands as of now below -

Freak's - Red Or Green

A song that we had been eagerly awaiting for over three years finally made an appearance just before Christmas, although due to being in the middle of December listicals we haven't got around to posting about it until now. Although it's very much worth the wait.

It was way back in 2014 that Strabane based band Freak's first popped on to our radar with their pop-culture influenced indie-pop stylings, with tracks like "Number One" & "A Minute More" tickling our fancy. We had high hopes of them doing well for themselves, however since then they've been quite quiet, very rarely playing live, bar Christmas hometown gigs, and with no new recorded music since.

This was a shame, as one of the songs they played live & on radio sessions "Red Or Green", was one that we really thought deserved a bigger audience, and is one that many of us in Ireland can relate to. Thankfully, just before Christmas, the band finally posted the finished studio version of the song online for us all to enjoy.

"Red Or Green" is a song about youthful memories and the passage of time. The main hook of the song is built around whether between which 5p Tayto Crisps was preferable, either the red bacon flavoured ones, or the green pickled onion ones.*

Unfortunately, Tayto haven't sold Fives for over ten years, as the rolling tides of inflation meaning that it wasn't financially viable to continue selling them. Perhaps if "Red or Green" becomes popular enough, it will act as the catalyst for Tayto bringing back the crisps? At the very least, we hope Tayto will throw those Freak's fellows a few boxes of crisps for the free publicity they've given them over the past few years.

"Red Or Green" is available now as a free download.



*There were also yellow ones, which were cheese flavoured, although these were much harder to come by. Despite what the band have said about these ones publicly, I actually quite liked the yellow ones. Sorry guys!