One of Ireland’s most popular indie-pop acts return from London, hit up Dingle and dive back into the Irish scene…

LONG SEEN as Ireland’s ultimate student band, The Coronas evolution has been an odd one. Rarely given the media credit that their sizeable sell-out shows might suggest they warrant, the lively four-piece are firmly established on our shores, having played the country’s largest indoor gig venue (the 3Arena) and headlined numerous festivals.

For much of the last few years, however, their Irish successes have been conducted from abroad, with The Coronas living together on London as they tried to break into a larger market, with mixed success. Having now returned home – a move that, bizarrely, precedes their largest ever London show latest this year, in the Kentish Town Forum – life is moving on fast.

New album ‘Trust The Wire’ – a reference to taking chances – represents probably the band’s most substantive change in style since they started out 14 years ago, taking in a broad range of genres and instrumentation. It’ll be released on a newly-established band-run label, too.

“We didn’t sit down and decide to do things differently,” frontman Danny O’Reilly told the Gazette. “It just evolved. We wrote the album in Dingle, instead of London like the last album, and I think there was a subconscious impact of that in the sound. It’s very electronic, chilled and mature, written from a place of calm. I think you can sense the change lyrically, too.”

“It’ll be our first record on the new label, and we’re excited about that,” he adds. “It makes sense for us financially now that we’re in a place where we can promote ourselves, and really take control of what we’re doing. We’ve actually done more promotion on this album than other ones, even though we didn’t have that major label backing, so it seems to be going well.”