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.