Seven Songs for the Week #122 - 6th Aug 25

This week's list is 100% inspired from attending the All Together Now festival in Waterford last weekend. A well organised event with a great line-up, and almost perfect weather. The first act I wanted to see was up-and-coming Irish band Florence Road who are busy making waves by playing every support slot going this year and having had a bump from an Olivia Rodrigo endorsement. Their set was hugely confident with tunes. Let's se where they go from here.

The Glasshouse Orchestra are a collective that do curated live shows, and on Saturday at ATM they were advertised to "Play the Velvet Underground". Thankfully the remit was a little looser than that, and they played this Reed/Cale song from Songs For Drella. I bought this album when it came out, and I think I'd rate it above the VU personally. Must dig it out and listen again.

ATN was CMAT's festival. She is undoubtedly meeting her moment and it's thrilling to see someone at their tipping point. She was second on the bill to London Grammar (me neither, tbh) on the main stage on Saturday night. Like Florence Road, CMAT has taken so many support and festival slots over the past three years, winning over fans one-by-one. While the setlist was similar to the Glastonbury Pyramid Stage performance in June, she was further up the bill, and in theory didn't have to do the same amount of work to get everyone on board - we were already there. Swathes of people came from all over the festival site to see the phenomenon, and it was wonderful. EURO-COUNTRY is the fourth "single" from the upcoming album of the same name. A brutal takedown of the ongoing aftermath of Ireland's 2008 financial crash, it received its live debut at ATN. For all the on-the-surface anger of Friday's headliners Fontaines DC, EURO-COUNTRY is more angry, and more powerful as the fist is in a velvet glove. Oh, and Free Palestine.

I had seen John Grant live once before, back when Pale Green Ghosts had come out and I knew precious little about him. That was a phenomenal gig, aided by his unannounced backing singer that night, Sinead O'Connor. The second time I saw him was at ATN. Stomping around the stage, playing a keytar, and being reminded of all his wonderful songs. I haven't paid attention to everything since Pale Green Ghosts, but I better go and fill in some gaps. [I originally put GMF on this list, but I've included that before, so his performance of QoD on the night was enjoyably, pantomimely, vitriolic].

I like to play "Stump Shazam": Can I find a piece of music that the music-identifying app Shazam is unable to name. One of the highlights of ATN was the surprise set announced by Reggie Watts with about an hour's notice on Sunday lunchtime. Thankfully the ATN app on my phone let me know it was happening. While waiting at the barrier for Reggie to come on stage (I was the only comedy nerd at the barrier) this track was played on the PA, and Shazam was not stumped. There's a whole album of the Catalogue Music Goodness.

Wet Leg were second on the bill to headliners Fontaines DC on Friday night. I hadn't been sure about WL - I was listening to new album Moisturiser on the way down and not blown away. However, live and in person they were a totally different vibe and hugely enjoyable. I am unsure as to why both Wet Leg and Fontaines DC have decided to hide their most pop-tastic moments at the end of their most recent records. Embrace the pop people!

Oddly enough this song has appeared in my week twice. The other half went to see A Lazarus Soul at ATN (I was at The Voidz because I'm cool) and we were listening to ALS's Joe Chester on the drive home. He does a pretty faithful cover of this song on one of his albums. Then the following day I heard the FMac original on the radio. A weird coincidence. With the upcoming release of the first Buckingham Nicks album, it's perhaps worth spending some time with Say You Will, the last Buckingham Nicks album.