Introducing Irish trio whenyoung, who just dropped an impressive debut EP, Given Up

Sitting somewhere between a more polished but just-as-urgent version of The Pixies and The Cranberries at their more uplifting lies Irish trio whenyoung, a group who just dropped their very accomplished debut EP, Given Up. And sure it might seem lazy to just lump a new Irish band with an old one, we think it's pretty fair when you consider one of the tracks on the EP is a Cranberries-approved take on their classic single, Dreams.

With an EP that's "a bite-size presentation of who we are, our place in the world and where we’re going," whenyoung have made an exciting first impression on us, and we think it's only a matter of time before the rest of Australia catches on. Before then, you can get to know 'em a little better below:

Tell us about yourselves:

Hi we're whenyoung, we are a three piece band from Limerick in Ireland but living in London. Aoife sings and plays bass, Niall is on guitar and Andrew on drums.

What kinda tunes we talkin?

Our songs are intensely melodic blasts of euphoria. We have an inherent Irish sound but we like to say that it's pop music with a punk ethos. We like to juxtapose dark lyrics with uplifting music. We have lots of musical influences that range from Bjork to PJ Harvey to Blondie to The Clash. We also take a lot of inspiration from film and we enjoy sharing books between each other.

Production/Writing process:

We are a band and we generally write our songs together in the studio as a band. Aoife normally forms a vocal melody and we begin to shape the song around this, with the power of the melody at the forefront. Once we have a feel for the song and a sense of it, the lyrics will come. We like to write and demo everything ourselves before we go to record. We are currently recording our debut album with Al O'Connell in London, which is where we do most of our work.

Can you tell us about your new EP, Given Up?

Our debut EP is a collection of four songs. Three of these we wrote around the same time after we had moved to London and one is a cover of a Cranberries song called Dreams. We chose these four tracks as we felt they gave a good idea of what kind of band we are, where we have come from and where we are heading. Heaven On Earth and Given Up are two upbeat tracks and then Sleeper is a slower, acoustic one which shows a different side. The Cranberries are from the same place in Ireland as us and with Dolores passing away this year we felt it fitting to record this and add it in. Noel Hogan, the guitarist, gave us his approval which was special for us.

Any shows coming up?

We're on a UK tour with Blossoms at the moment, then we have a few shows back home in Ireland before Christmas. Then after the holidays we play Eurosonic festival and our own UK tour. Hopefully we'll get to come down to Australia at some point!!

What's the rest of year have in store?

We're putting the final touches to our album at the moment to have it ready for next year. That's something that we are incredibly excited to finish and share with the world! It's a big step up for us in terms of the sound and production. We've had a really busy year with over 100 shows and recording the album so it's going to be really nice to get some time at home for Christmas.

Where can we hear more of your music?

You can order our EP here at our website! And all of our releases so far are on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer.

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