Stream ØXN’s Doom-Laden Irish Folk Experiment CYRM
Over in Ireland, there’s an exciting community of bands infusing the nation’s traditional folk music with doom-laden post-rock and experimental noise. Lankum and John Francis Flynn are responsible for two of this year’s best albums, and now another affiliated band has gotten in on the act.
ØXN (pronounced “oxen”) is a Dublin quartet featuring Lankum’s Radie Peat. On Friday, they released their new album CYRM (pronounced “sy-rum,” not “serum”), comprising six covers and traditionals reinterpreted through the band’s apocalyptic lens. It’s perhaps even darker and doomier than Lankum, and they save the best for last: 13-minute closer “Farmer In The City” drones to life, stretches out into a hellish landscape, and — about 10 and a half minutes in — briefly bottoms out in a way that reminds me of late-era Low.
It’s a haunting, transfixing album, and you should stream it below.
CYRM is out now via Claddagh/Universal Music Ireland. Thanks to moglog in our Discord for the recommendation.
