Backstage at End Of The Road’s 20th anniversary, Kiran Leonard sat down with KLOF. He first played the festival in 2014, just before he turned nineteen. He talks about the maximalism of his early work, his interest in structure and trying things that supposedly don’t belong in song. Henry Cow’s “In Praise Of Learning” gets a mention too.

Myles na gCopaleen’s An Béal Bocht sets out Irish identity as a series of gaps between expectation and reality. Trá Pháidín recognise that those gaps still exist, detect the places where they are widening, and – quite brilliantly – attempt to draw them together with a keen ear for the absurd and an impressive mastery of musical forms old and new, one that includes avant jazz, krautrock, and modern composition.

From his forthcoming album, True Violet, co-produced by Nick Waterhouse and Paul Butler, Rayland Baxter has shared his new single, Bolly Plateau, a place anyone seeking escape and respite would envy. Watch the accompanying video.

Taken from her latest album “Who’s Keeping Time?”, Alela Diane has shared two more videos from her Attic Live Sessions. They include the “In My Own Time”, a gentle meditation on how the distractions of the modern world can easily prove to be a thief of our precious time, and “Could Be”. Don’t miss her upcoming Ireland and UK tour dates.

Taken from his forthcoming album ‘Cooked’, which brings together collaborators from Australia, Germany, Japan and Sweden, and drops this Friday on Drag City, Oren Ambarchi shares the entire 22-minute song, Sleight of Hand, in the form of a short film created by Maximilien Luc Proctor…an equal part lucid and fever dream.

Northern Earth feels like a real distillation of Dean McPhee’s sound; the music shows meticulous attention to detail, and recording it live with no overdubs makes it all the more impressive. A real sense of life and energy flows through each mercurial, exploratory piece. It is complex, painstakingly crafted music that is also focused and assured. It comes highly recommended.

Karine Polwart and Jackie Morris talk to KLOF Mag about Spell Songs’ “In Thin Air”. The record follows the Seven Wonders of Bird: nest, egg, beak, song, feather, flight and migration, and grew out of a week-long Pembrokeshire residency. Polwart discusses ecology, folk tradition and the importance of physical albums; Morris explains her live painting alongside the band on tour and her relationship with birds.

It’s foolish to attempt to situate Sourdure’s music within a historical context; it feels both pre- and post-everything. Sung in Occitan and French, his latest offering, Outredore, features Lisà Langlois, Le Diable Dégoutant, and Eloïse Decazes. It is an absolute singular album that floats freely and pierces deeply.