Mark Hegan - Skyward

It's great to get new music from an artist that we've been fans of on The Metaphorical Boat in different guises. One of the Northern Irish acts that we were really excited about was In An Instant, who released some great songs that melded together indie-rock with electronic elements extremely well, like "All Binds Fall Undone", "Where The Demons & The Devils Speak", and a track that ended up in our Top 10 Songs of 2014, "Something Right & Something Real". Alas, like many local acts, the band called it a day not too long after releasing their final single in 2016 without gaining the wider attention that they definitely deserved.

Fast forward three years, one of the members of that band, Mark Hegan, has just released his debut single under his own name, "Skyward", having re-located from Bangor to London. If like me, you were a fan of In An Instant, then you will instantly enjoy this new track, as it is not a million miles away from the music he was producing in his old group. It's not as upbeat as prior songs he's been involved with, although given that the song's about isolation and feelings of losing one's identity, but it still successfully melds of electronic and rock elements in a great way. In particular, we do enjoy the little guitar licks, which reminds us of Mark Knopfler's solo works.

In An Instant may not have had the success I would have wanted them to, but Mark Hegan has shown with his debut single that he's still got some great tunes in him.

"Skyward" is out now.

Paths - Neoprene

Paths is the new solo project of Julianne Shawe, a name that may be familiar to followers of local Northern Irish music over the past few years. She was one half of electro-rockers Nakatomi Towers, a favourite of ours who predated this blog (a few of their songs can still be found online), and more recently was a member of Go Swim, responsible for one of our favourite songs of 2014.

Having now gone solo as Paths, her debut single gives us a great insight into what music we can expect. Produced by Rory Friers from And So I Watch You From Afar, "Neoprene", which we have since learned is a synthetic rubber, which among other things is used for making wetsuits, sees Julianne move back in a more electronic direction, with pulsating drum & bass beats melding with her vocals effortlessly, with elements of Jamie xx, Grimes, and New Portals firmly in the mix. It's a starkly striking debut, and one that could see Paths stand out of one of the most exciting new local acts of the year.

"Neoprene" is out now. Paths' first gig will be on February 16th at Output Belfast.

In An Instant - Come The Night

For quite a while now, Bangor based trio In An Instant have been one of our favourite new artists to emerge from Northern Ireland in the past few years, first wowing us with their demo "All Binds Fall Undone", and then stepping things up a notch with their "Light You Know and Love" E.P back in 2014. For the past year and a half though they have kept something of a low profile, with very little in the way of live dates or activity seeming to come from them. Thankfully there's been a lot going on behind the scenes, and today we are glad to see the IIA boys have finally released a new single, "Come The Night".

Produced and engineered by local demi-god Rocky O'Reilly, "Come The Night" furthers the template that the band first used on "All Binds Fall Undone" and "Something Right And Something Real" - the song starts with an electronic intro, which is then followed by the main guitar hook which later recurs to become the melodic backbone of the chorus. The verses are then relatively quiet, until we get hit with the sonic onslaught of the choruses, which are usually followed by a post-chorus which introduces a new guitar hook which acts as a counterpoint to the main guitar line. It's a very effective template, which the band have used to great effect on "Come The Night", which is perhaps their most polished, radio-friendly tune released to date. Plus the verses remind us a little bit of "Acquiesce" by Oasis, which is never a bad thing at all.

"Come The Night" is a welcome return from one of our favourite local electro-rock groups. Given the backing that In An Instant have received for this release, we hope that this is going to be catalyst that springs them towards even bigger things.

"Come The Night" is out now.

Pleasure Beach - Dreamer To The Dawn

It's been a good few months since we were first introduced to Belfast based Pleasure Beach, a band formed from the ashes of perpetual blog favourites Yes Cadets, through their excellent debut single "Go", a pulsating slice of driving rock that is very much in our top 3 songs released in 2015 called "Go" (alongside efforts by both Public Service Broadcasting and The Chemical Brothers). That song received a fair amount of love on the blogosphere, which has set them up nicely for the release of their debut E.P this month, on which it features.

The title track of said E.P is "Dreamer To The Dawn", which follows on nicely from the latter in sharing the same "Bruce Springsteen for the 21st century" sound that The War on Drugs have championed for the past few years. "Dreamer" is bit slower and a bit heavier on the keyboards than their debut, although it does have a stronger central guitar hook and is definitely more stadium friendly.

Dreamer To The Dawn" is an impeccable follow-up single from Pleasure Beach, which has solidified their perfect hit-rate of tunes to date. Although it might be a little premature, but we may have just found ourselves a band who are going to break through in a massive way in 2016.

The "Dreamer To The Dawn" E.P will be released on October 30th.

Rams' Pocket Radio - Reservoir

It's always lovely to hear new music coming from Peter McCauley, aka Rams' Pocket Radio, who we've been writing about on the blog more or less since we starting with the whole music blogging thing (including featuring him as one of our Tips For 2012 back in the day). His debut album, "Béton", picked up quite a few plaudits, including a nomination for the Northern Irish Music Prize, and just this month he released a new single for us, "Reservoir".

Unlike the more piano-based sound you might have come to expect from Rams', "Reservoir" sees keyboards and electronics take on a more prominent role than before, which some people have compared to the sounds of "Kid A"-era Radiohead, although it still contains the earnest songwriting and dischordant pop elements that we've come to expect from them. Plus the lovely string section that comes in halfway through helps to retain a sense of earthiness to the proceedings.

"Reservoir" offers an interesting development of the sound of Rams' Pocket Radio, and might give us a few hints as to what we can expect when album #2 eventually drops.

"Reservoir" is available to download now.

Line-In - The Life And Death of Terminus Abruptus

For the second day in a row, we're bringing our good readers some tasty Irish electronic music. Although unlike yesterday's tasty treat, this one's a little bit on the bonkers side.

Line-In is the project of Stephen Roddy, a Dublin based producer and sound engineer. He has just released the first instalment of a four part record based around Terminus Abruptus*, a fictitious* universal overlord. The first track from the release is a track called "The Life and Death of Terminus Abruptus", which gives you a bit of a taste of what to expect. It's a quirky, odd, heavy electronic instrumental which sounds like it's pitched somewhere in between Adebisi Shank and something you might find on the soundtrack of Streets of Rage. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but definitely worth your time if you're willing to give it a chance.

The first release in the series, "Overlord Pt. 1 - The Glorious Rise of Terminus Abruptus", is out now.


*which we are assuming translates as "abrupt stop". It's been over ten years since we took a Latin class. 

Tell No Foxx - Fusillade

Q. How does The Metaphorical Boat like its electronica served?

A. Warm. Warm and human.

And we have just been well and truly satiated, thanks to Wicklow based trio Tell No Foxx. They have already picked up lots of love after the release of their debut E.P over the summer, and to coincide with their upcoming performance Hard Working Class Heroes, they have just released a brand new single. "Fusillade"* is built upon a landscape of dark and moody electronica and beats, yet upon its foundations lies a depth of warmth thanks to its subtle guitar and thoroughly human vocals. Turn down Bastille's pop-meter three or four notches and you get a sense of what to expect with Tell No Foxx.

"Fusillade" is due to appear on the band's second E.P, which is due for release in January. They play The Button Factory in Dublin on Saturday 4th of October for this year‘s Hard Working Class Heroes Festival.


*Fusillade means a quick succession of shots fired - we love it when bands help us to learn new words.

Lewis Hurrell - Ordinary Life

Originally from California but currently based in Colorado (via the UK), Lewis Hurrell  has just released his new single "Ordinary Life". The track calls to mind the anthemic alternative pop of Imagine Dragons ("Radioactive" was something of an influence on the making of the song), with its soaring choruses and expansive sounding production, in spite of the fact that it was recorded in his bedroom.

"Ordinary Life" is available to download now.