After two EPs that made them a regional success in Ireland, the alt-rock quartet moved to London to record their debut LP, “Madra” the Irish alt / rock collective NewDad release their debut album, “Madra” on Fair Youth / Atlantic. Awash with spiralling guitars and a hypnotic bassline, singer/guitarist Julie Dawson finds inspiration in TV show Euphoria, as she ruminates on the destructive relationship of characters, Rue and Jules: a storyline that she herself gravitated towards.
“Madra” meaning “dog” in Irish is an 11-song, guitar-stacked visceral outing, as singer/guitarist Julie Dawson embarks on a journey of self-exploration, self-sabotage, and reflection. Soaked in dysfunction, “Madra” searches for solace in pain, tackling themes of bullying (‘Where I Go’), self-medication/depression (‘Madra’, ‘Let Go’), destruction (‘Change My Mind’, ‘White Ribbons’), co-dependency (‘Nosebleed’) and resistance (‘Nightmares’). The album artwork, photographed by Irish creative, Joshua Gordon, shows a broken doll that serves as a metaphor for the album’s themes of fragility and vulnerability.
The album finds NewDad reconnect with their musical roots, digging deep into the shoegaze/rock sonics that sound tracked their formative years (the band cite Pixies, The Cure and Slowdive as some of their biggest early influences), together with glimmers of indie/pop that harks back to their earlier material: ‘Waves EP’ (2021) and ‘Banshee EP’ (2022). Written in their home city of Galway, Ireland, before the band moved to London this year, and recorded at the legendry Rockfield Studios (Black Sabbath, Queen), the album has been produced by NewDad’s long-time collaborator Chris Ryan (Just Mustard) and mixed by Alan Moulder (The Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Wet Leg).
Bound together by Julie’s ghostly vocal – a vessel for her weighty, introspective song writing –“Madra” firmly marks NewDad as one of Ireland’s most promising debut guitar bands.
Their breakthrough 2022 EP, “Banshee” Now the band have signed to Atlantic Records, NewDad are primed to become a Stateside sensation with their first full-length
By the time NewDad released their hotly tipped debut LP “Madra”, the group led by Julie Dawson had begun engaging with the material in a different way. The album, which arrived at the end of January via Atlantic Records, was completed in February of 2023.
Its diaristic nature and heart-on-sleeve lyricism made it an intense personal reflection of Dawson and her bandmates’ world at a particular moment in time. But by the time “Madra” was released, the group wasn’t necessarily in the same mental headspace as they were when they wrote these songs. It taught Dawson to detach from her work, to view creation as something fleeting, temporary, and ultimately, for her listeners.
Imbued with the ethereal vocal harmonies of Cocteau Twins and the gothic jangle of The Cure, “Madra”, the debut long-player by Galway-based indie band NewDad, channels Julie Dawson’s ghostly voice into a nocturnal spirit walk that guides listeners through the melancholic realm of dream-pop and more than earns its spot among the best albums of 2024.
The Fat Angel Sings 