Daithi

A late-night Saturday gig by Ireland’s intelligent pop hero is the perfect thing to land in the middle of an Easter weekend. With the streets of Dublin almost deserted since Friday lunchtime, though, it’s a slow filling Button Factory as midnight strikes.

We last saw Daithi tear the roof off Dolly bar in Reykavik in a post-Iceland Airwaves gig in November ’13, and now with an album about to drop on June 6 he should be more than suitably amped for tonight. Pushing his start until nearer 1am was a good move and the room has a respectable amount of bodies in it, the lonely city souls who have shirked the exodus.

His warm-up takes about 30 seconds and blood-warm beats are flowing as he flits around on pads and triggers. Categorising Daithi isn’t easy but only because the feeling from it is so simple, and we know how hard it is to make simple work. If he wasn’t on stage, the room would be dancing club-like on the floor. But he’s a great focus too. Picking up the fiddle every now and again and generating a loop, he always carefully places it back and returns to the station in front of him. Lost in the music too, his blonde mop flops around and he’s a man in constant motion.

Liza Flume joins for the first guest vocal and adding the live voice just adds a great layer to things, visually as well as musically, and it’s boosted again later as Elaine Mai joins for ‘Carraroe’. Early on he’s mixing in some ‘Chameleon Life’, a, if not the Irish summer anthem of 2013 but yet the mood never rests between this and the vocal numbers. At one point we realise that we aren’t looking at the back of any laptop screen, nor is there one to be seen at all. This simple realisation just bolsters the on-spec belief in this guy’s craft and makes the process of what he’s at seem more analogue, or just human. The only other act we have seen who can stand alone behind a bank of panels and hold a room rapt like this is Jon Hopkins so Daithi seems to be in some good company as a performer too.

The full version of ‘Chameleon Life’ is saved till near the end, and it’s beautiful. If the passion behind tonight’s show to a thin bank holiday crowd is anything to judge, and if there’s any justice in the country, Daithi will be put up on stage as the night falls in Stradbally this Summer to kick off a night of dancing – smiling till your face hurts, last beers in your hands and trying not to spill them as he keeps knocking out future hits. That’s the sort of dream that crosses the mind as April turns to Summer at the drop of a fiddle loop tonight – and your realise your face is hurting.

Daithi photographed for State by Mark McGuinness. - State.ie

It does seem as if Daithí Ó Drónaí has been around for yonks. Between naive dalliances on reality TV shows and a relentless schedule of live shows up and down the country, Ó Drónaí has slowly but surely found his way around the houses to his current sound very much in plain sight. Such a developmental arc is a good thing, though, as it has resulted in a humdinger of an album. The Ó Drónaí of a couple of years ago didn’t possess the skill set or bravado to let the pop flag fly as brazenly as is does on In Flight. It’s one radio-friendly, dancefloor-teasing nugget after another, an album of superbly sculpted tracks each primed to catch the ear. There’s a rake of fine singers onboard to provide the vocal hooks throughout, but it’s Ó Drónaí and producer Ian Ring’s rave of sound, a storm of synths, loops and beats, which really makes this a winner. - Irish Times

As a nation, Ireland isn’t exactly lauded for its electronic music. We may be globally-renowned exporters of potatoes, woolly jumpers, rock bands and whatever Enya is, but we’ve yet to make waves in the realm of dance and electronica.

Step forward fiddle-playing, beat-looping Galway native Daithí Ó Dronaí (arra could he even sound any more Irish?).

Years of talent shows, support slots and everything in between has led him to this year release his debut album In Flight.

Traditional Irish instruments aren’t generally associated with electronic dance music, but Daithí has forged an alliance between the unlikely pair. Much of the album includes his trademark fiddle, putting a decidely celtic stamp on an otherwise universal genre.

Case Closed is one perfect example of a fiddle loop sitting comfortably in the background of a dance track, noticeable but not in an awful ‘celtic fusion’ kind of way.

The first track to make the album Chameleon Life arrived last June. An excellent single, it has all the momentum of the sort house-pop that has been regularly topping charts in the last year, particularly in the UK.

This leads into title track In Flight, borrowing vocals from Danny O’Reilly of The Coronas, who is top of the bill of a lengthy list of collaborators for this album. A simple synth progression and a kicking bass make this tune unforgettable – easily one of the best pop songs to come out of Ireland this year. Since the video release a few weeks back it has gained reasonable attention, rightfully winning some radio play too.

If In Flight is the best pop song on the album, then Golden Blush should be considered the best house track. It captures a perfect combination of featured vocals, dramatic piano chords and muffled drums. The bass drop is relatively subdued but the song still has plenty of energy. Tiny teasings of 8-bit sounds top off what is a perfectly produced track.

The rest of album is quite mix-and-match. Ribcage dabbles in elements of drum and bass and Dream State in big room house, but only as subtle nods to these style. Every song sounds different, but there’s enough of his character in each to act as a common thread.

As a debut album, In Flight seriously impresses. Daithí avoids defining a genre for himself by conveniently skimming through various ones and picking out the best parts- serving up a refreshing cocktail of dance, pop and house with a sprig of shamrock. - Goldenplec.com