TPOE 402: Last Apollo

David Geraghty released his latest solo album Komorebi via Bohemia Records on September 18. It follows debut album Kill Your Darlings in 2007 and The Victory Dance two years later, as well as two records under the moniker Join Me in the Pines, INHERIT in 2014 and MONOMANIA in 2019. Komorebi, he says, is an album of hope - the title  is a Japanese word that describes sunlight filtering through a canopy of trees. Since his last album, David has completed an undergraduate course where he majored in composition and the study of classical piano. We talk about all this and lots more, including Good Bones, the ninth studio album by Bell X1 of whom David is a founding member. I caught David a few weeks ago while he was in Listowel supporting Ash frontman Tim Wheeler on a tour of intimate venues around the country. He's supporting the likes of Pa Sheehy and Seamus Fogarty as well as Bell X1 headline shows over the next few weeks and months - head to davidgeraghtymusic.com for the full list of dates. Buy Komorebi at davidgeraghtymusic.bandcamp.com

Kieran McGuinness, one half of Driven Snow with his wife Emily, talks about the evolution of their music, their songwriting and creative process, the importance of albums, and navigating the music industry. They released second album Mother of Christ on September 11. Written in the margins of busy lives, it is an album rooted in the everyday and shaped by the private world that Kieran and Emily have created together Buy the album: https://drivensnowmusic.bandcamp.com/album/mother-of-christ Driven Snow tour dates: October 29: Cleere's, Kilkenny November 20: CoastGuard Culture Centre, Tramore December 3: Sugar Club, Dublin

Belfast-based Morgana released her debut solo album The Whole Thing Was Very, Very Emotional on October 9. One half of Saint Sister, she talks about highlights for 2026 so far, from supporting Snow Patrol in stadiums to playing gigs in the Amazon in Brazil. We explore her creative process, CMAT and other influences, and the evolution of her music and stage persona. Buy The Whole Thing Was Very, Very Emotional: https://anthemvinyl.com/products/the-whole-thing-was-very-very-emotional-lp-limited-online-exclusive-edition

Limerick/Dublin band girlfriend. released their second album Carousel on September 4. Hana Lamari talks about the journey to making it, recording with producer Chris Quigley, the realities of being a small independent band - work, tour life or lack there of, breaks, mental health and more. Buy Carousel: https://girlfriendmusic.bandcamp.com/album/carousel

Dublin-born, London-based artist Lucy Rice aka Last Apollo released her debut album I'll Walk Towards You on September 4. A collage of grief and care and honesty, it's an artefact of love that took Rice on a journey. We talk about the road to get there, influences, playing with the Glasshouse ensemble and other acts, and lots more. Buy the album: https://lastapollo1.bandcamp.com/album/ill-walk-towards-you Dublin launch gig at Bello Bar, November 18: https://www.singularartists.ie/show/last-apollo

Dublin-born, Brighton-based Sarah Crean released her second album Heirloom on September 18. It's a concept album based on the myth of Calypso, using her story as a lens for Sarah to explore loss, escape, and reclaiming her own voice. It's also entirely made by women, which was a very deliberate move. We talk about Sarah's journey, the viral success of the 2022 single 2am which led to her getting signed, moving to London, later getting dropped, depressed, and finding her way out of that hole. Along the way we also discuss Electric Picnic, Olivia Rodrigo, and writing killer choruses. Buy Heirloom: https://elasticstage.com/sarahcreanmusic/releases/heirloom-album Sarah Crean plays Ireland Music Week on October 1

Loah released her debut album Materia Medica on June 5. She says: "The ambition was to create a hypermodern body of work that sonically exemplifies the changing definition of what Irishness is, what femininity is and indeed what musical ‘genre’ is and its flexibility in the modern context. We have many excellent producers and musicians on this album - it is a collage of sound!" The album features Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, her sister Fehdah, Gambian kora player Suntou Susso, harpist Allanah Thornbourgh, producer Ben Bix (Meltybrains?), drummer Dylan Lynch (Soda Blonde), and the Crash Ensemble. It was produced by Brian Dillon and Danny Forde. Loah is part of Sirens and will appear at the National Concert Hall on Saturday, September 26, and Cork Opera House on Sunday, September 27. The show is hosted by Lisa Hannigan with arrangements by the Theodora Byrne Trio and featuring a host of amazing female voices such as  Amanda Bergman, Kate Stables, Angie McMahon, Anna Mieke, The Staves. It will also be at Inis Oirr and at the Barbican, London, on October 17 (Loah won't be a part of these shows). Buy Materia Medica: https://loah.bandcamp.com/album/materia-medica

Really Good Time (Diolmhain Ingram Roche/Wastefellow - vocals and guitar, Ado Tornado - drums and Jacque le Coque - bass) released their debut album Affirmations on August 7. Affirmations sits with the temptation to disengage - from the news, from other people, from the relentless grind - a rejection of navel-gazing nihilism, delivered with black humour and no small amount of noise. They say: "This album started with a kind of doomsday thinking, with a creeping sense that we were waking up hungover at the end of history. For anyone that resonates with, I’m sure you may agree that this isn’t necessarily the most affirming feeling to meditate upon. "Yet over the year we have spent writing, recording and getting this record ready to release, the process of showing up each day to work on something you believe in, with people you care about unconditionally has been deeply life-affirming." Really Good Time support Super Furry Animals and Baxter Dury at Collins Barracks as part of the Wider than Pictures concert series on August 30 and tour the UK and Europe in October and November. Irish tour dates:  December 4: Cleere's, Kilkenny December 5: Button Factory, Dublin December 6: Spirit Store, Dundalk December 10 Roisin Dubh, Galway December 13: Coughlan's, Cork Buy Affirmations: https://reallygoodtime.bandcamp.com/album/affirmations-2

Wallis Bird released her eighth studio album I Can See Your House From Here on her own label, Bród Records, on June 5. She says thr album serves as a celebration of the life of her late friend and collaborator Kevin Ryan and a way to process grief as it also reflects on the war in Gaza. the challenges of addressing political issues in her music. Over nearly two decades in music, Wallis Bird has built a career defined by longevity, honesty and a deep sense of community. We talk about everything from navigating criticism and the impact of sobriety on her creativity, to the importance of collaboration, fun, and emotional intelligence in the artistic life. Listen/buy I Can See Your House From Here: https://ffm.to/icsyhfh.bio Wallis Bird tour dates: Thursday, September 3: The Spirit Store, Dundalk Friday, September 4: The Grand Social, Dublin Saturday, September 5: The Briery Gap, Macroom Sunday, September 6: De Barra’s Folk Club, Clonakilty Thursday, September 10: The White Horse, Ballincollig Friday, September 11: Dolan’s Warehouse, Limerick Saturday, September 12: Róisín Dubh, Galway Sunday, September 13: Cleere’s Bar & Theatre, Kilkenny

Ae Mak released their long-awaited debut album Folk Songs for Mama and Papa on May 29. The songs were written in the winter during a time of deep emotional pain and self-questioning. Living alone in a Berlin apartment, Ae Mak began writing at a friend’s piano, singing poems formed over a year of heartbreak, anxiety, low self-worth and self-reckoning directly into melody. The music came quickly, not as an idea to be shaped but as something that already felt there. The recorded demos were later brought to Brían Mac Gloinn (Ye Vagabonds), who tenderly co-produced and engineered the record with Aoife. Together with Cian Hanley (drums) and Kevin Corcoran (piano, bass) and Fennel the cat, parts of the album were re-recorded in a friend’s farmhouse in Ravensdale forest under the mantelpiece in their kitchen, with other elements captured in her family home in the Cooley Mountains. The recordings hold onto their beginnings - the production remains close and human, drawing from the warmth of ‘60s and ‘70s folk and baroque pop, gospel-leaning organ, reverberant orange guitar textures, and layered harmony, the voice at the centre. On this episode of the TPOE podcast, Aoife talks about the journey to get to Ae Mak's debut album, the story of heartbreak behind it, and finding her voice. Buy Folk Songs for Mama and Papa: https://aemak.bandcamp.com/album/folk-songs-for-mama-papa Ae Mak tour dates: June 8: The Lower Third, London June 12-14: Beyond the Pale July 23: Workman’s Club, Dublin