CMAT, Sello, Biig Piig: 15 Irish music acts to watch out for in 2022
CMAT, Sello, Biig Piig.
The MO of Kildare artist April Lawlor: Dance and cry and kiss. One of a number of acts excelling at Phoebe Bridgers-core sad-girl indie, Lawlor started out by posting bedroom-made tracks to Soundcloud in 2019.
She’s since had songs playlisted by BBC Radio One and, having signed to Atlantic Records, looks ready for a big 12 months.
- Key track: The Impossible Task of Feeling Complete
Born in Cork and raised in Kerry, the Spanish-Irish artist Jess Smyth aka Biig Piig already has tens of millions of plays on Spotify, with her slick, sedative take on hip-hop and neo-soul making for an irresistible melange.
She’s already done a supporting tour in the US and played with Glass Animals in the UK. Are albums that important in 2022? If Biig Piig does get around to releasing one, expect it to be one of the records of the year.
- Key track: Feels Right
Running with a Sampha-like sound, Matthew Harris is Chameleon.
He’s previously helped produce with acts such as Malaki, Nealo, and Gemma Bradley, but Harris’ debut single, ‘You Know’, featuring vocals by the Berlin-based Lucy McWilliams (another one to watch), and released in mid-2021, is a lo-fi stomper, brimming with summer vibes.
It’s good enough to have us salivating at what Chameleon might turn to next.
- Key track: You Know
Already everybody’s favourite wannabe cowboy, Dublin singer-songwriter CMAT’s songs will melt your heart as you scream along to the lyrics.
There’s shades of ABBA and Dolly across her handful of songs to date, and a connection with the broken-hearted.
Debut album If My Wife New I'd Be Dead is set for release via AWAL Recordings on February 25 and, having supported Declan McKenna on tour in the UK, she’s got the chops and wits to make a big splash this year.
Should be the most-played act on Irish radio too.#
- Key track: No More Virgos
The 22-year-old Cork/French singer-songwriter, producer, and classical musician only released his debut EP Make Believe in December.
Riding a Dermot Kennedy sound, and having signed to Darkroom/Interscope (his labelmate: Billie Eilish), Ducrot is bound to conquer the airwaves in 2022 and be playing very big shows by this time next year.
He says of the EP that it’s “only barely scraping the surface of what it is I’d like to do with my music and my voice as an artist”. We believe it.
- Key track: Hello Gorgeous
Lindsey, 23, aka Kynsy already has a colourful, bubblegum pop aesthetic down to a tee, offering up choruses with an added edge.
She’s only one EP into her career, but Things That Don’t Exist is an exciting hint of what’s to come.
The only way is up for the Dublin-based artist.
- Key track: Happiness Isn’t a Fixed State
The Dublin teenager makes music that’ll leave you weak at the knees, the vivid lyrics speaking directly to the heart.
Latest single ‘First Man on the Moon’ is a woozy tale of pining, the chorus declaring: “I don’t get homesick, just sick of never feeling at home.”
Influenced by the likes of Frank Ocean, PJ Harvey, and Joni Mitchell, she says she wants to be like Gwen Stefani during No Doubt.
Ska-pop hasn’t wormed its way into her sound yet, but Lucy Blue has everything she needs for a successful 2022.
- Key track: First Man on the Moon
Riding a line between rap and poetry (so hot going into 2022), the young 20-something Dublin artist Lyndsey Lawlor’s first single ‘Eat The Money’ was a riposte on the climate crisis.
Recent tracks have a less-obviously searing anger running through them, but rather a frustration at modern life.
Lawlor’s lyrics are backed with dance vibes courtesy of Kildare producer Gary O’Reilly aka Mix & Fairbanks.
Debut album Dearest Philistine is out January 12 and could be the first great release of the year.
- Key track: Love, Lust, Indifference & Hatred
Dundalk duo Negro Impacto are singer Chi Chi and producer StrangeLove (Laurence Kapinga).
Their debut single ‘Lockdown Syndrome’ arrived in midsummer and summed up a lot of our last 18 months or so: “I’m stuck in my bed… I’ve got big plans but they’re chilling in my head… wasting time and energy on things that are not serving me.”
A self-titled EP and edits collection soon followed and showcased how the pair are bursting with ideas. Offering up a fun pop/RnB vibe, expect Negro Impacto to make a big, well, impact in 2022.
- Key track: Mini Excursion
There’s an early-90s slacker vibe to Galway four-piece NewDad.
Fronted by Julie Dawson, theirs is a dreamy indie you can believe in, with big choruses (‘I Don’t Recognise You) and familiar feelings (‘Ladybird’ - ”It's half past three but you're not thinking of me, no this isn't how I thought it would be…”).
BBC 6 Music are big fans, they’ve toured around the UK, and played Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris, building on the back of one of the EPs of 2021, Waves.
NewDad have already sold out a show in Whelan’s in April - they’re the hottest act in the country.
- Key track: Ladybird
Jade Roche, 23, from Malahide, Dublin,makes banging pop music.
Wearing the influence of Lady Gaga loudly and proudly, 2021 single ‘Heaven’ sounds like it was made for the dancefloor.
She’s already, understandably, a radio favourite across Ireland and the UK and says of the Irish scene: “…it always seemed to be imported. There are very few successful female true Irish pop artists. The scene just wasn’t here - so we have created it! Radio stations are playing Dua Lipa - so why can't we have Irish pop instead? I want to help break that barrier.”
She’s doing just that!
- Key track: Bad Loser
From Nun Attax to Sultans of Ping, Cork has a tradition of off-kilter indie that continues with Pretty Happy.
The art-punk trio make music that shouldn’t work but it just does, in the process sounding like it’s being held together with sticky tape.
Comprising brother and sister Arann and Abbey Blake and Andy Killian, it sounds like they’re having even more fun than the listener - not even they know what they’re going to do next.
- Key track: Salami
It’s impossible, listening to the likes of ‘Dublin’ or ‘Oggy’, to not feel shivers of excitement at just how high the ceiling is for Dublin rapper Sello.
He says he’s looking to establish a new sound called ‘GaelicDrill’ fusing Irish culture with the Morden drill/hip-hop sound.
The likes of A92 are the blueprint - Sello is ready to show his own in 2022.
- Key track: Dublin
Born in Zimbabwe before moving to Ireland at age 5, Shiv is a DJ turned songwriter, based in Dublin.
She makes classic-sounding RnB, her debut EP The Love Interlude a dreamy, muted collection perfect for Sunday downtime (there’s even a sax solo on ‘Where You Are’).
But you feel like Shiv has plenty more to offer, with a debut album expected in 2022.
- Key track: Golden
You can imagine any of the tracks made by Patrick King and Ben O'Sullivan aka 49th & Main on any number of Spotify playlists - take that as a positive (so catchy!) or negative (no real distinctive sound or identity of their own) as you see fit.
The Kilkenny duo make jazz-house tunes that could have a Disclosure-like impact; they look primed for festival season.
- Key track: Catching Eyes
