New Irish Music – Croíthe – A Brief Respite
by Killian Laher

Croíthe are an Irish band from Dublin consisting of Caodán Connolly (vocals and guitar), Ben Byrne (guitar), David “DJ” Barron (bass), and Keevy McGowan (drums).  They have recently released this EP, A Brief Respite.

It opens with Feed My Head, the most upbeat song here, which sounds like, of all things, a heavy version of Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen, yet it actually works!  The Diver, which follows, is even better, noisy and malevolent like the darkest bits of Whipping Boy.  A lot of new Irish bands have been compared with the mighty Whipping Boy, but this one really does measure up.  I Heard, I Saw is more elegiac, featuring some wonderful guitar work, while the dark, pounding “The Lovers” has echoes of the Murder Capital. A very promising EP concludes with the haunting, echoey “Soldier.”

It’s available from https://croithe.bandcamp.com/album/a-brief-respite