Just before the turn of the new year a month ago, Covert Music Club unveiled our list of the songs that we felt were the best of 2018. The full playlist can be found on Spotify for people who might want to give it a look.

One of the songs that made it onto the list was the spectacular single by Dublin duo Le Boom, Animal. For the past few years the band comprising of Christy Leech and Aimie Mallon, have been building up a reputation as one of the best live acts having come together in 2016. They have become a staple of the Irish festival scene with their sets always attracting a large crowd, a crowd who never leave the shows disappointed.

The big break for the band finally came in 2017 when their 2016 single, What We Do, featured on a prevalent Vodafone ad campaign that summer. The track would go on to get significant radio play in both Ireland and America, and it helped to bring the attention of the wider public to the great work being done by the Dublin based duo.

Le Boom continue to create an undeniably back catalogue with every release that they put out, and when Animal came to my attention last year, it felt like something a bit special.

Animal is the perfect culmination of everything that Le Boom have been building up to at this point. The duo are much more than just a group of people making music that you can dance to, across every song Leech creates a story for the listener to follow. The listener of Animal is presented with a typical story of struggling to be yourself when in normal conversation with a person that you desire, and yet there are still moments when everything seems natural and free. To be able to get these messages across so clearly to a crowd of people who are losing their minds is an impressive feat and it is done with each here.

The instrumentation here is again masterful, as with all tracks by the group, with Mallon yet again demonstrating herself to be one of the leading percussionists in Irish music at the moment. A true triumph of a track.

Keep an eye on this pair, the journey is only getting started.

MK