There is a lot of good music coming from many new and upcoming bands and musicians right now. That’s always been the case of course. I don’t buy into the idea you hear that there is no good music “these days”. People who think that aren’t exposing themselves to new music. I discover most new stuff via Twitter or the Apple Music recommendation posts on Instagram stories or weekly email. Some recent examples of new discoveries for me are Yonaka, Alice Merton, Ariana and The Rose, Charly Bliss, Du Blonde, Ina Wroldsen, Klara, Soak, and Wild Rivers. All great.
The latest discovery came via Twitter. Barbara Whearty posted a video of the band Dea Matrona busking a version of the Fleetwood Mac song Go Your Own Way in Belfast city centre at Christmas. Wow! It is so good. The video has since gone viral, and at the time I write this has been viewed over 480,000 times. After seeing this video, I listened to their original music and their other videos on YouTube. Two of their songs from last year made it into my top 10 list.
I love it when a new band or artist comes out of left field for me. Although in this case, the fact that I’d never heard of Dea Matrona before is entirely my fault. They have been playing gigs in Northern Ireland and beyond for a couple of years. As you can see from their videos on YouTube. I might need to get out more!
You can tell when a band is the real deal. And Dea Matrona are the real deal! Their playing is tight, and they have that crystal tone that all good bands have. Their vocals are excellent, with both singers voices having slightly different characteristics that complement each other. Their own songs are terrific, and the mix of classic rock covers they play with them is spot on.
I was lucky enough to see them live at their Black Box Belfast Out To Lunch Festival gig last week. They are superb live. Lots of bands simply play music at the audience when performing. Sod that. We can listen to the music anytime. At a show you want a performance, and Dea Matrona deliver. They are colourful and kinetic on stage, and best of all they look like they are having fun playing the new and the classic tracks. They also have good crowd interactions between songs, with anecdotes about how songs got written, and things that happened at other gigs. It is astonishing how much stagecraft and musical ability they have for such a young band. Not forgetting that the two singers also swap lead and bass guitar duties a few times during each gig. Literally handing their instruments to the other. From what I could see this meant that when Molly McGinn was playing bass, she was operating the guitar pedal effects board for Orlaith Forsythe on guitar, as they didn’t change stage positions. Remarkable. I’d bet that drummer Mamie McGinn could probably play guitar or bass as well if required! Of course, we only see the tip of the iceberg (hat tip to Scott Flanigan on this point) and not the thousands of hours of study and practice that all three band members have put in to get this good. Kudos to them as it has really paid off. They are a remarkably good band and they will be huge in the future. Rightly so. They deserve it.
Check out their upcoming Ireland gigs here, and their YouTube channel. And have a look at this cover version of Joan Jett’s song Cherry Bomb to see a band having fun!
