whenyoung

Few bands can boast the kind of striking musical identity whenyoung have. The trio – singer/bassist Aoife Power, guitarist Niall Burns, and drummer Andrew Flood – make some of alternative music’s most compelling new sounds; a soaring, stunning, but still singalong take on musical anthemia, that fuses the storyteller’s nature of their home country of Ireland with the effortless cool of the London scene they now call home. Their story started in Limerick, Ireland. Three teenagers met for the first time after sneaking into Costello’s Tavern: the only bar in town that catered to their musical tastes. After bonding over cheap vodka and the sound of The Velvet Underground, they began playing music together and moved to London to seek some big city excitement. Musically, the likes of recent singles ‘Heaven On Earth’ and ‘Given Up’ paint a wistful, storyteller’s take on art-rock, feeding into a lineage that boasts everyone from The Cranberries to The Pogues. “The band acknowledge those great literary songwriters who came before them, perhaps no more so when they covered ‘Fairytale of New York’ “for the laugh” last Christmas, which was immediately reciprocated when Pogues frontman Shane McGowan was singing their praises and invited them to play at his 60th Birthday party. Huge shows alongside the likes of Nick Cave and Patti Smith came this summer. They’ve also supported the likes of Dream Wife, Declan McKenna, The Vaccines, Peace and Blossoms.