Ushmush channels the Caribbean & Aran Islands on debut project ‘Oileáin’
Ushmush channels the Caribbean & Aran Islands on debut project ‘Oileáin’
“‘Oileáin’ is an ode to the Islands that fuel my musical ideas, in the Caribbean and off the west coast of Ireland.”
Last November Ushmush grabbed our attention with the video for ‘Grá Mór’. Even the description of the track a reimagining of “Oisín i dTír Na nÓg’s encounter with Niamh in a modern Jamaican dancehall setting” proved too irresistible not to click into. It may sound like a bizarre combination, but the artist’s self-styled ‘reggaelton’ really works.
He’s now shared his debut project ‘Oileáin’, a six-track EP embracing the dancehall gaelgóir’s Aran Islands heritage. Besides the outstanding ‘Grá Mór’, the eponymous track ‘Oileáin’ is another belter. Even with dancehall and Afrobeat’s popularity in the charts at the moment unfortunately it’s hard to see a world where Irish mainstream radio would give this music a spin. Simply put it would confuse the shit out of most stations, but Ushmush’s sound deserves widespread attention. It’s pop music done right. And it also happens to be as Gaelige.
Check out the EP below.
