The Thin Air Podcast

SOAK (Everybody Loves You: Song Dissection)

In our final episode of season 2, Danny Carroll meets Bridie Monds-Watson (SOAK), to talk about her song Everybody Loves You.  The first single to be released from her second album Grim Town (Rough Trade 2019), Everybody Loves You sees Bridie's songwriting and recording process significantly shifting gears.  Here, she breaks down the elements that went into the dream-pop ballad - be it a warm string section or "soggy cardboard" guitars.

Just Mustard (Pigs: Song Dissection)

This week's installment of the Thin Air podcast features Dundalk band Just Mustard and their track Pigs.  A hypnotic highlight from their debut album 'Wednesday', guitarist/producer David Noonan, singer KT Ball and drummer Shane Maguire talk about the song's writing and recording process with Danny Carroll.  Serving as a blueprint for the band, we found out how 'Pigs' informed the band's development and gave them a new way of approaching their songwriting.

Girl Band (Shoulderblades: Song Dissection)

This week on the Thin Air podcast, Danny Carroll meets one of Ireland's most beloved group's Girl Band, to talk about their recent single Shoulderblades.  The first song the band released in four years, Shoulderblades served as an intense, exhilarating teaser for second album 'The Talkies'.

Girl Band's singer/lyricist Dara Kiely and bassist/producer Daniel Fox speak about how the song developed and reflect on it's varied influences - be they 19th century freaks, low-cost imported lager, or Leonard Cohen's howling anguish.

 

Tracklisting:

1. Girl Band - Shoulderblades

2. Jon Hopkins - Open Eye Signal (Happa Remix)

3. The Beatles - Baby You're A Rich Man

4. Leonard Cohen - Memories

5. Leonard Cohen - Don't Go Home With Your Hard On

Careerist (Negative One: Song Dissection)

This week we speak to Belfast band Careerist about the track Negative One.  A highlight of their excellent debut album Weird Hill (released on Pizza Pizza Records in November), singer/guitarist Carl Eccles and bassist Nathan Rodgers talk to Danny Carroll about the influences that inspired the song, and the recording process.  We also get insights from producer Chris Ryan (Robocobra Quartet) about how the song developed in the studio.

TPM (Fuck RTÉ: Song Dissection)

In episode two, we're delighted to feature the Dundalk rap duo "making unemployment sexy again" - TPM. Since 2015, brothers Charles and Andrew Hendy been making funny, insightful, very Irish hip hop together, influenced by anxiety, depression and life on the dole. Last year they released the explicitly excellent single FUCK RTE and Danny Carroll visited the brothers in their Louth abode to learn more about the song. The episode also features some insights from their producer David Noonan (Just Mustard/Larry) credited here as DJ Chronic Lower Back Pain, with Charles and Andrew talking about how the song evolved, what it means to them and why, above all else, they hate Joe Duffy.

Songs featured:

1. Fuck RTÉ

2. Strictly For My Jeeps (Instrumental) - Action Bronson

3. Cash In The Claw

4. All The Boys On The Dole

5. Eat That Curry

6. Nuthin' But A G Thang - Dr. Dre

Junior Brother (The Back Of Her: Song Dissection)

The premiere episode of the Thin Air Podcast Season 2 features Kerry's finest singer-songwriter Junior Brother.  With his debut album Pull The Right Rope recently named the Thin Air 2019 album of the year, Ronan Kealy speaks to Danny Carroll about the song's origin and recording process.  We also hear from the song's producer Chris Barry (Ailfionn Studios), as well as cellist Claire Kinsella (Lemoncello).

Music Featured:

1. The Back Of Her (2018)

2. Hungover At Mass (2017)

3. You Make A Fine Picture (2016)

4. The Back Of Her Demo (2016)

5. Parasite - Nick Drake (1972)

6. Solid Air (live) - John Martyn (1978)

7. Sprout And The Bean - Joanna Newsom (2004)

 

Presented & Produced by Danny Carroll

David Gedge (The Wedding Present) Interview

The Thin Air podcast returns with a distinguished elder statesman of indie rock - David Gedge of The Wedding Present. John Peel favourites and jangle-pop pioneers The Wedding Present emerged from Leeds in the late 1980s with their scrappy and lyrical debut album 'George Best'. A unique blend of bitter melodrama and everyday mundanity, it's an urgent record that revels in the melancholy of small town life.

From their C86 roots the band went to be bona fide indie-popstars, charting no less than 12 singles in the UK top 40 in 1992, and becoming a regular anomaly in the shiny world of Top Of The Pops. To date Gedge has released nine albums under the Wedding Present name, with most recent LP 'Going, Going...' sounding as vital and clever as their earliest material. For the Thin Air podcast, David Gedge spoke to Danny Carroll in the midst of a 'George Best' 30th anniversary tour. Looking back on the debut album, he speaks about the personal nature of the songs, the development of the band's sound and the connection between his past and present.

Malojian Interview (Let Your Weirdness...Song Dissection)

This week Danny Carroll meets Antrim singer-songwriter Stevie Scullion (Malojian).  From his home studio, Stevie talks about the album's title track 'Let Your Weirdness Carry You Home'.  Clocking in at nearly six minutes, the song is a Grandaddy inspired epic, featuring bubbling keyboards, strings, brass, and layer upon layer of vocals.  For the Thin Air podcast, we hear about the song's evolution, featuring an early demo, and listening to elements of the finished song in isolation.

Lankum & Spud Murphy Interview (The Granite Gaze Song Dissection)

Danny Carroll meets Dublin folk miscreants Lankum to discuss their mournfully epic song 'Granite Gaze'. Along with producer Spud, the group talk through the lyrical origins of the song, listen back to an early demo, and highlight individual elements of the song's swelling arrangement.

Yoni Wolf (Why?) Interview

Yoni Wolf, singer and songwriter with the Cincinnati group Why? speaks to Danny Carroll for the Thin Air Podcast. Ahead of returning to Ireland, to play the Button Factory (September 17th) and Roisin Dubh (September 19th), Wolf chats about his early attempts at rapping, articulating anxiety and his recent attempts to convey positivity in song.

The interview was recorded at the Glasgow CCA - 8th June 2017.

Songs featured:
1. Good Friday (Boards Of Canada Remix - 2008)
2. I Be Blowin' (De La Soul feat. Maceo Parker - Buhloone Mind State - 1993)
3. Bad Entropy (Oaklandazulasylum - 2003)
4. Eskimo Snow (Eskimo Snow - 2009)
5. Good Friday (Alopecia - 2008)
6. Consequence Of Nonaction (Moh Lean - 2017)
7. The Hollows (Alopecia - 2008)
8. Gemini [Birthday Song] (Elephant Eyelash - 2005)
9. Proactive Evolution (Moh Lean - 2017)
10. I Remember Me (Silver Jews - Bright Flight - 2001)