29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Kerry folk artist Junior Brother announces Tralee concert scheduled after release of upcoming album
The Kilcummin native, who recently signed with the Strap Originals label founded by English rocker Pete Doherty, will play at venues across Ireland, the UK and Europe in celebration of his upcoming release.
The lyricist will play at Tralee Lasta Festival at Síamsa Tire on Friday, October 10 as part of the upcoming string of shows.
Junior Brother's new album, titled The End, is due out on Friday, September 5.
The work has been described as a deeply instinctive yet carefully considered response to the chaos of modern life.
'The sound of the album is supposed to take the organic instruments of Irish traditional music and lift them somewhere else, like the otherworldly Irish music sometimes heard from Fairy Forts at twilight on country roads, impossible to recreate upon hearing,' the artist said.
Much of the album's inspiration was drawn from UCD's Folklore Collection on
'I delved into the manuscripts—endless eyewitness accounts of Fairy Forts being stepped into and the land altering, the familiar mutating,' Junior Brother explained.
'Farmers, teachers, the sober, the smart—all losing their way home one way or the other.'
In these tales of displacement and confusion, the artist said found striking parallels to the instability and distortion of contemporary life.
The End is said to explore forces that work against nature, the rise of the far-right and confrontations with mortality.
'The title The End represents the moment after being led astray, when the grip of madness releases you and you suddenly see your way home. It may reflect the doom of a world gone mad, but it also represents the end of darkness, and the start of a new road,' Junior Brother said.
The upcoming work will include his renowned single from last September 'Take Guilt' and his latest offering 'Small Violence', billed as a track which addresses the growing influence of misinformation and the escalating wave of conspiracy-fuelled hatred.
The singer/songwriter said the song follows a character pulled in by a small few who enjoy using violent words to stoke real violence further down the line.
'The intro riff was heavily inspired by the opening titles of The Blood on Satan's Claw, a folk horror from 1971 which I highly recommend to anyone except the sensible,' Junior Brother said.
The new song is available on popular streaming platforms and the music video for the track, directed by Ellius Grace and Junior Brother, can be watched on the artist's YouTube channel.
Tickets for Junior Brother's upcoming concerts are available at
