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 eighth act in the series is CC Brez.

WHO IS HE? He's Cormac Breslin to the taxman, Brez to his mates but CC Brez to you. You might recognise him from the cover of Republic of Loose's second album 'Aaaagh!' – he was the guitarist in that band for many years. Now, after spending time co-fronting electropop duo Cars Love Girls, he's going solo – although he still plays live with a band encompassing up to nine musicians.

WHY GO SOLO NOW? "I've always had the luxury of co-writing and building projects with others - I wanted to set a challenge to try and do it all myself," he says. "The overall objective is to learn more, whether that is with writing and singing, or making the calls and organising everything from studio sessions to video shoots. I suppose I was feeling a bit comfortable. I had forgotten what it's like to sweat."

IS IT DAUNTING TO GO IT ALONE? "It's equally terrifying and rewarding," he laughs. "One day you wake up and the music is great and you are your own best friend, then another day you wanna rip it all up and start again. When you are solo the decisions need to be laboured over more, it's more intense but it's harder to have an argument with yourself."

WHO ARE HIS INFLUENCES? They include Prince, Al Green, Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix – "any bombastc virtuoso soulful performers", he says. "I also love classic songwriting and jazz. I'm a sucker for a rich melody."

WHAT DOES HE SOUND LIKE? "It's funk guitar music in a pop form," according to him, which sounds fairly accurate to us. It's undeniably poppy, with a rich funk groove running through it. If you like bands like Chic, you'll probably like this.

WHAT'S NEXT? His debut EP 'Her Alibi' has just been released, along with a single of the same name; an album is "70% finished" and due later in the year. "The plan is just to play live and develop the show," he says. "I want the live experience to be a spectacle, with different by-roads, peaks and troughs. It's early days but I've a long list of ideas to try and execute."

CAN I HEAR IT? Check out the 'Her Alibi' EP, streaming on Bandcamp, below. And stay tuned to his Facebook page for gig updates.

  

 

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, #6: Ben Carrigan and #7: Columbia Mills.