Welcome to our music series featuring the best in fresh, exciting Irish music.

Every month, we'll profile a new (or relatively new) Irish band or artist, give you a flavour of what they're all about, let you know what they're up to lately - and most importantly, let you hear their music.

The seventh act in the series is Columbia Mills.

WHO ARE THEY? They're a sometime-duo led by Fiachra Treacy and Ste Ward, but they have four permanent members that occasionally becomes six during live gigs. Having known each other all their lives and having played in different bands over the years, they came together as Columbia Mills about 18 months ago.

WHERE ARE THEY FROM? Bray, Co. Wicklow.

WHAT'S WITH THE NAME? "The name comes from a pretty iconic building for music on Sir John Rogerson Quay in Dublin city centre," explains Treacy. "It was an old rave spot in the '90s during the emergence of electronic dance music and '90s indie music. We always walk past the building and the name is still on it – so when we looked into its history we thought it would be a great name for our band. We have been massively influenced by electronic music, and we incorporate that into our more indie guitar background."

WHAT DO THEY SOUND LIKE? "Pretty dark," according to Treacy. "We do like to tug at peoples' emotions and from a writing perspective, the songs do come from a very personal place," he reveals. "We feel in order to relate to people on this level you must draw from your own human experience - otherwise the songs will sound contrived and people see through that." They describe themselves as a "a cross between Massive Attack and The Jesus and Mary Chain," which sounds pretty accurate to our ears.

WHO ARE THEIR INFLUENCES? Massive Attack, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure and Depeche Mode are at the forefront. "We did grow up in the '90s listening to DJs like Dave Clarke, Mark Kavanagh, Carl Cox and Senan Short," says Treacy. "More recently, we're listening to Deerhunter, Tame Impala and Future Islands. They kind of embrace the same technology as us, although I don't think we sound anything like them."

WHAT HAVE THEY RELEASED SO FAR? They released debut EP 'Factory Settings' last November, and their second EP 'The Perfect Day' is out tomorrow (June 12th).

WHAT ABOUT AN ALBUM? It'll happen at some stage. "We'll work very hard on some really cool new tracks we have and try to get the album to flow nicely between the electronic dance elements, while still embracing the songs and the guitar sounds," explains Treacy. "We have no shortage of songs for the album, so it's in the production where we'll really have some fun."

CAN I HEAR MORE? You can stream their debut EP 'Factory Settings' below.

 

 

Hear 'The Perfect Day' below:

 

Columbia Mills also play live at Whelan's this Saturday, June 13th. Tickets are €8 from WAV Tickets.
 

 

Read our previous installments in the New Irish Music series: #1: Sunday School Sessions,  #2: Darling, #3: Elastic Sleep,  #4: Binaries,  #5: Best Boy Grip and #6: Ben Carrigan.