Here are our choices of the best Irish and international records released this year

What a year it’s been for music - particularly for Irish music. 

It seems that each year that passes, more and more of our homegrown acts across various genres go ‘out foreign’ and stake their claim.

2023 was no different, with Irish artists from the pop, rock, folk and dance scenes making waves internationally and proving they can go toe-to-toe with the best of ‘em.

Here are our best albums of 2023…

10. Mik Pyro - ‘Exit Pyro’

Republic of Loose fans may have been waiting years for a Mik Pyro solo album, but the one that arrived probably wasn’t what they were expecting. Instead, the Dublin musician’s debut record - both the first and the last, he promises, to bear his adopted moniker - was a soulful, sometimes a little scrappy but always authentic exploration of blues, soul, folk and rock. 

9. John Francis Flynn - ‘Look Over the Wall, See the Sky’

This was John Francis Flynn’s second album, but the Dublin folk musician unearthed an indefinable quality in this set of songs that wasn’t present on his (nevertheless impressive) debut. The beauty of Flynn’s (exceptional) guitar playing, the arrangements of these songs and Flynn’s powerful delivery combined for something very special indeed; albums like this are why a new generation of Irish folk artists are being hailed internationally. 

8. Lisa O’Neill - ‘All of This is Chance’

We always knew that Lisa O’Neill could (and would) make an album like this. From the beginning of her career, the Cavan woman marked herself out as an exquisitely peculiar performer, both forward-thinking and deferential to the folk tradition. Her fifth solo album, thanks to songs like ‘Old Note’ and ‘Goodnight World’, is one to get lost in.

7. Caroline Polachek - ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’

An album that really ought to have generated more attention than it did in 2023, the fourth album by former Chairlift frontwoman (and the second under her own name) was a seriously impressive feat of alternative pop, from the offbeat electropop of 'Welcome to My Island' to the charming clatter of 'Bunny is a Rider' and beyond.

6. Wilco - ‘Cousin’

It’s fair to say that even the most ardent Wilco fan would probably agree that their last few albums have been largely solid affairs with some sublime moments. On ‘Cousin’, the Chicago band crafted (aided and abetted by Cate Le Bon) an album that ducked and dived into interesting spaces and flowed gorgeously from start to finish.

5. Feist - ‘Multitudes’

There’s a chance that some people know Leslie Feist only for that iTunes ad her song featured on a hundred years ago. Tut, tut. Luckily, the Canadian musician released a stunningly, achingly beautiful album in ‘Multitudes’ this year, an album that encompassed the crazy life experiences of becoming a parent and losing one with a poignant self-awareness and some stunning songcraft, to boot.

4. Roisin Murphy - ‘Hit Parade’

The Wicklow woman returned with the best album of her career in 2023. Produced by German house DJ Koze, the stars aligned on Murphy’s sixth album: here are joyfully weird songs that dazzle, sparkle and get under your skin.

3. CMAT - ‘Crazymad, for Me’

2023 was without doubt, the Year of CMAT. Not only did Ciara Thompson win the Choice Prize for her debut album in March, but she followed it up with a stunner of a record that exhibited her innate talent for crafting wry songs dripping in glitzy lugubriousness. 

2. Lankum - ‘False Lankum’

One of the most influential folk acts of the current generation released their best album to date this year. False Lankum, the Dubliners’ fourth studio album, was a fiercely singular, dark, tempestuous excavation of old folk songs by a band beholden to nothing or nobody; Lankum may doff their cap to tradition, but this collection saw these four excellent musicians doing their own thing in a magnificently deviant manner.

1. Jessie Ware - ‘That! Feels Good!’

The Londoner has made some brilliant albums in the past, but her fifth record was a culmination of everything she does well - as well as a celebration of pop, soul, disco and r&b. Ware hit her stride in triumphant fashion; from the exultant ruefulness of 'Begin Again', to the sassy strut of 'Freak Me Now', to the shoulder-shimmying '70s disco-pop of 'Pearls'. A superb album from start to finish that undoubtedly lived up to its title.