Reviews
As the BBC ‘Sound Of’ Poll attests, popular music is obsessed with the ‘hot new thing’. This year it’s London soul singer, Sam Smith, following 2012 winners, Haim, three retro-rock sisters from LA, and UK soul-man Michael Kiwanuka (the 2011 title holder, not heard of since his debut album).
Ireland is immune to such media flummery. We would rather that our artists are in it for the long-haul. Laptop folkie James Vincent McMorrow said his debut album didn’t gain any traction here until a year after its release; similarly, it took years for Bell X1 or The Coronas to gain a critical mass of fans.
