A recurring theme on this site is to praise the work that is being done in Irish music at the moment. The industry is forever growing and as a result more and more artists are feeling the freedom to explore different sounds, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to get their music to the ears of listeners through the variety of social media outlets that are available. There is a wide range of genres being represented on the scene currently, and another group working to establish themselves is Dublin folk group, The Finnjamins.

Immediately, it is clear that there is something different about the band as the brainchild of instrumentalist Finn O’Reilly. The band are classified as a group but along with the front man, the other members are realised by three mannequins, with each member representing the different sides of O’Reilly’s personality. O’Reilly grew up in Dublin, learning a multitude of different instruments including cello, piano, and guitar, before beginning to write and record music.

The debut album by The Finnjamins is expected to come later this year, and the most recent single by the group is another precursor for said album.

Immediately, one of the things I noticed about this track was the distinctive sound that moved through the whole song. There was something about the ambiatic instrumentation and the echoey effects on the vocals by O’Reilly that set me to thinking of an olden Parisian setting with a protagonist talking us through their inner thoughts. I was instantly drawn to the song, as this atmosphere was not something that I had heard on anything in recent years and already seemed to set The Finnjamins apart.

The song refers to a time in O’Reilly’s past when he felt as though he was trapped in a endless cycle of alcohol fuelled sessions while surrounding himself in situations involving drugs. The song outlines the feeling of hopelessness that people can feel when they are trapped in this kind of lifestyle as they are aware of the self-destructive nature of their actions. It will be instantly relatable to lots of people who will have found their early twenties to be a time of uncertainty.

It’s going to be fun watching the career of The Finnjamins develop in the coming years.

MK