Applause Music Reviews: Belfast and Northern Ireland

Sarah McCreedy - Older  Flush as the North is with musical talent, singer/songwriters have long been a staple of the scene and remain one of our biggest cultural exports. Enter Co. Down hopeful Sarah McCreedy, who fits the mould of the modern singer/songwriter by combining accomplished musical aptitude with an impressive composition in her debut single Older. Carpeted by nostalgia, Older implies a level of comprehension by McCreedy that almost makes it unfair to consider the single a debut. Fully formed and confident, there is little room for complaint, nor is there evidence of unused potential. The opening of Older featured a measured and muted rhythmic strumming that is almost soporific in nature before McCreedy comes in, her vocals beginning barely louder than a whisper before gathering both traction and weight. As mentioned before, the song relies heavily on nostalgia and the march of time, but it is not without its wit. McCreedy informs the listener during the chorus

Gareth Dunlop - Many Moons Ago  Belfast journeyman Gareth Dunlop’s new EP Many Moons Ago comes from a place of nostalgia and love. Inspired by his travels between his hometown and Nashville, Many Moons… is as much about heartbreak as it is about love. Poetic and dark, Dunlop is not reinventing the wheel on his new EP, sticking to his strengths and writing a fantastic set of mist-shrouded ballads. Opener Devil Like You begins with a slow gothic riff that would be at home on a Nick Cave record. Dunlop's low, gravely vocals whisper out amidst the music, like fog over a lake. Dunlop ’s steady strumming acts as a hair-raising high point to the lyrical lows, while the plucked strings emit a low muted air of wickedness. Dunlop's signature brand of mesmerising scores and lulling vocals create a unique almost vaudevillian genre of folk that left me genuinely fearful. The whole EP is not given over eerie sensibility, however, as standouts Cant Stand Myself and Blind