The Point of Everything

Peter Lawlor aka Polytunnel, a producer and DJ, releases his debut album The Word for World is Forest via Alien Communications on December 13. He says: "The Word for World is Forest is an album influenced by the city of Glasgow, showcasing Polytunnel’s love of classic detroit-inspired electro along with nods to the techno and house that has influenced his work over previous records. Recorded in Glasgow, the album is a love letter to the city that continues to inspire and over the course of nine tracks, offers a glimpse into the producer’s broad palette of electronic sounds. The title is inspired by Ursula K Le Guin’s novella of the same name, which delves into themes of destruction, resistance, and the devastating impact of imperialism.' On this episode of the TPOE podcast, we talk about the journey to Polytunnel's debut album, running his label Moot Tapes, clubbing and nightlife in Ireland vs Glasgow, favourite music of 2024, hardware, and more. Polytunnel: https://polytunnel.bandcamp.com/ Alien Communications: https://aliencommunications.bandcamp.com/ Moot Tapes: https://moottapeslabel.bandcamp.com/ Lebanon Fundraiser: https://moottapeslabel.bandcamp.com/album/lebanon-fundraiser

SIlverbacks (Daniel O'Kelly, Kilian O'Kelly, Peader Kearney, Emma Hanlon, Gary Wickham, Paul Leamy) released their third album Easy Being a Winner on October 18 via Central Tones Records. Scattered around Dublin, Drogheda, Kildare and Paris, Silverbacks have really found their groove on this album. It sounds like an effortless progression. I talked to Dan about making the album, life in Paris, cycling, Other Voices, being a dad, and some of his favourite music of the year. Buy Easy Being a Winner: https://silverbacks.bandcamp.com/album/easy-being-a-winner --- As a band, Ireland six-piece Silverbacks are restless, eager to move onto the next thing: Three albums in four years is evidence of this. That their fizzing, rock-addled songs rarely pass the four-minute mark is further proof. But in their personal lives, they’re not restless. In fact, they’re settling down. Lead singer and guitarist Daniel O’Kelly now lives on the outskirts of Paris with his wife - it’s where he sees his immediate future too. His brother, guitarist Kilian, has moved to Drogheda, an hour north of Dublin, with wife and fellow Silverback Emma Hanlon, where they’ve discovered a newfound interest in plants (red hot pokers are their favourite). They’re content. Their relationships - their friendships - take the pressure off the music and ultimately allows for something that is more enjoyable to make, and perhaps, as a result, sounds more authentically like Silverbacks too. As they sing on the closing track of third album Easy Being a Winner: “You start to figure it out.”

His Father's Voice (Ash O'Connor, James Reidy, Laya Meabhdh Kenny and Cian McGuirk) released their debut album Black Poison Morning on September 6. Frontwoman Ash talks about how the band have developed over the years, making the record with Micheál Keating (Bleeding Heart Pigeon), the Limerick scene and Féile na Gréine, and lots more. Buy Black Poison Morning: https://hisfathersvoice.bandcamp.com/album/black-poison-morning --- Press release: ‘Black Poison Morning’ is the debut album from Limerick-based outfit His Father’s Voice. The album’s fabric takes its form through a methodical weaving of avoidance, desire, imperfection and impatience. Parallel to a tug of war between these lyrical vices runs a mix of wide ummeling instrumentals and raw dead space, giving a cinematic quality to each of its eight tracks. Even in the album’s more exuberant moments, an anchor of tension brings an unnerving reluctance to the listener. Equally, the album’s more claustrophobic moments are underscored by a sense of hope for emotional release. The granting of catharsis is carefully crafted through soaring pop melodies, immersive guitars and muscular rhythms, flipping the postpunk genre’s penchant for emotional outburst on its head. As with its ability to blend moods which lie in opposition to each other, the band find balance between its accessible sound and emblems of the experimental music community that it emerges from. It feels as though our debut album grew up alongside us over a number of years, learning to navigate reluctance, longing and impatience. It’s fragile alongside bolder and more resistant moments. We wanted an album that could find a home for both our sweeter sound and the murkier gothic cornerstone of our music. This album collates and distills an energy that we’ve been testing out live for the last year. Sometimes the music can feel like it’s heaving along with us, fighting for emotional release.

Dublin singer-songwriter Daniel Anderson aka Anderson released his second album Some Rain Must Fall on November 1. It's nine years since he released debut album Patterns (2015), after going solo following his band The Rags. Named after Karl Ove Knausgaard's book Some Rain Must Fall, Anderson says of the record: “This album was a long time in the making, perhaps these songs offer clues as to why. I’m an electrician by trade. That’s what I’m professionally qualified to do and what I worked as before I dedicated my life to music. Being a musician has taken up the majority of my adult life but I’d always had a feeling of imposter syndrome with it. In the back of my head I’d be thinking ‘I’m an electrician – I’m not supposed to be making art. But the dilemma triggered something in me and new songs and ideas started coming. I stopped obsessing on the career that music hadn’t given me and instead focused on how it had enriched my life. It wasn’t easy but everything I went through was captured in the songs and it’s all there on the record: work, worth, fear, pain, ageing, art, love, life and an understanding that into every life some rain must fall.” Buy Some Rain Must Fall: https://andersonsongs.bigcartel.com/product/some-rain-must-fall-12-vinyl