Beyond the Pale: a Story of Irish Indie w/ Brynna Maeve

Beyond the Pale is inspired by the music my mum raised me on in early 2000s Derry—a wee city in the North of Ireland, right on the border. She’s always been a music lover, but growing up in the North during the 1980s and 1990s meant that crossing into the Republic to see live acts wasn’t always easy or safe, and few international artists made it up North. Because of that, her love for homegrown Irish music ran deep, and that love was then passed down to me. This mix of 1980s and 1990s Irish new wave, indie pop, dream pop, and shoegaze is a reflection of the music that filled our house and car in my childhood. It’s also proof that most Irish music exists outside of narrow cultural clichés and pop nationalism– perhaps a political statement in its own right. Some of these bands you’ll also know and love, and some sit in the borderlands between local fame and international obscurity— a territorial boundary that’s constantly shifting in the digital age. This playlist is a love letter to my mum, to Ireland and its indie music scenes on both sides of the border, and the music that raised me.