UKNY for March 15

Dublin's Madra Salach only released their debut EP, It's a Hell of an Age, in late January, but the post-modern alt-folk rock sextet already has made a big impact as a thrilling live band: they've completely sold out their current 16-date UK/Irish tour which ends in Dublin at the start of April (with an additional Belfast date on May 1). Madra Salach lead vocalist Paul Banks cites The Pogues as an initial catalyst — as well as Lankum and John Francis Flynn — but what they've achieved on It's a Hell of an Age is a fluid, forensic dissection and reassembly of traditional Irish folk music into a tenebrous chasm of raw, bruised beauty. 

Madra Salach have something to say about today's rough economic woes, as does another Dublin force of nature, Sprints, via a new blast of frustration. Manchester's Antony Szmierek is back with a new track, his first since his auspicious debut album of last year, Service Station at the End of the Universe. Lava La Rue delivers with a brittle punch and New York trio My Wonderful Boyfriend definitely access some vintage Built to Spill — and even Sarah Records — vibes on their latest single.

Plus, Joshua Idehen finds the strength to dance, Clara Serra López considers how to survive in a patriarchal framework, and Cameron Picton, ex of black midi, begins again with My New Band Believe. Two of tonight's Oscar nominees make an appearance too: Jonny Greenwood and Max Richter.

That's "UKNY," Sundays 7-8 p.m. on 90.7FM, streaming online, and in the Archives after broadcast.

Songs played:

1. Antony Szmierek, “The Heron,” single
2. The Early Years, “A New Way of Living,” Modern Moonlight
3. (UK-SE) Joshua Idehen feat. Tommy McGee, “You Wanna Dance or What?,” I know you’re hurting, everyone is hurting, everyone is trying, you have got to try.
4. Lava La Rue, “Scratches,” Do You Know Everything EP
5. (UK-US) Witch Post, “Worry Angel,” Butterfly EP
6. (New York, US) My Wonderful Boyfriend, “My Love, My Darling,” single
7. (Dublin, IE) Sprints, “Trickle Down,” single
8. (Dublin, IE) Madra Salach, “Blue & Gold,” It’s a Hell of an Age EP
9. My New Band Believe, “Numerology,” My New Band Believe
10. (ES-UK) Clara Serra López, “Mari Paz,” Lengua Materna Part II EP
11. (US-UK-IN) Shye Ben Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express, “Ranjha,” Ranhjha
12. Anna Calvi, Nilüfer Yanya, Dove Ellis, Ellie Rowsell, “Sunday Light,” HELP(2) for War Child
13. Max Richter, “On the Nature of Daylight,” version from Hamnet (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), originally on The Blue Notebooks