Alarmist

Like 2015’s acclaimed ‘Popular Demain’ album, the new record pulsates with frenetic energy, while also making detours into the more spacious and slower-paced avenues of the band’s collective imagination.

The trio, consisting of Neil Crowley, Elis Czerniak and Barry O’Halpin, draws upon backgrounds in post-rock, electronic, jazz and contemporary chamber music – foundations on which they build with an ever-increasing sense of freedom and adventure. Embracing the collision of frenetic percussion, clanging guitars and vaporous synths, they absorb faded relics of retro-futurism and bygone musical eras into their own new and twistingly melodic musical language.

“Bronntanasaurus” is named for both the track’s lavish bounty (in a play on the Irish word for gift: bronntanas) and its time-travelling influences – from crumbly, ‘70s analogue textures through warbly Rhodes piano, to shiny digital synth pads. “We thought we were original, but were shocked to find that an Irish metal band not only beat us to this track title, but had recorded it in the same studio”, the band reveal, as if to illustrate the cosiness of the scene from which they emerged.

This close-knit, open-minded Irish music community proved a nurturing environment for Alarmist to connect, try out ideas, and form a unique identity as a young band, but they also became eager to progress beyond its surrounding waters. The success of their early releases, which all scaled Bandcamp’s experimental rock and math-rock charts, revealed audiences and opportunities in far-flung places. “Playing gigs and festivals abroad, and meeting people who are already fans, is surreal but very satisfying for an underground band. It makes you realise how far music can travel internationally even within its own niche”, they elaborate.

Alarmist’s new album Sequesterer is out 19 July via Art As Catharsis and Small Pond.

Their new single, ‘Bronntanasaurus’, is out now.