Not A Part So Far Entwined

Festival season is upon us. Plans for a pilgrimage to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury may have been scuppered once again, but rest assured I will be wreckin' it at as many Irish festivals as the piggybank will permit.

Headliners are all well and good (I'm looking forward to ticking Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Knife and Bjork off my musical bucket list) but it can be more fun to try figure out which acts further down the line-up can't afford to be missed.

Someone I'll certainly be chasing down at Electric Picnic this year is Scottish three-piece CHVRCHES. Although the band appeared on a slew of tastemakers' 'big for 2013' lists last year, it's only in the past few weeks that I've fully succumbed to their charms.

The 80's synthpop swagger of current single 'Gun', anchored by Lauren Mayberry's irresistible vocal, is easily the best song I've heard about homicidal arms-based revenge. Meanwhile, their pacey reworking of MS MR's already pretty excellent 'Hurricane' is, for now at least, the definitive version.

Didn't Know Getting Lost In The Blue

MS MR's 'Hurricane' already had a pretty great video, condensing the 'essence' of Tumblr into just under four minutes. That was, however, when they were being super secretive about their identities.

They have have since revealed themselves as New Yorkers Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow and to be in possession of faces. Accordingly, they have made a new video that features said faces smeared with lurid bodypaint.

Combining a bubblegum palette with murky happenings, the clip is a welcome reminder of MS MR's knack for grade-A gloom-pop ahead of the release of their album 'Secondhand Rapture' next month. Kind of hoping they're going to turn up one of the Irish festival line-ups one of these days...

Just Another Hurricane

Hot on the heels of Strictly Pleasure, comes another pop gem from Dublin pop prince James O' Neill, aka Bitches With Wolves.

Hurricane bears similarly high-end production to its predecessor and, with rumours abound of an even better track called 'Hercules' on the way, dare I speculate that an album might materialise this year?

Hurricane by Bitches With Wolves music