Sweet Jane - You're Making This Hard

I think there's been a distinct lack of real quality Irish bands breaking through in the last while. I don't think the music scene in this country is as strong as it could be, due to a number of factors, not least the lack of support for bands at live venues. When there's so much established international quality bands playing gigs here, it's difficult to get people out to a gig by a band they may have only heard a couple of songs from. Without real support at the live venues, it's hard for bands to gain real foothold. Of course, there's also the fact that if an Irish band were absolutely amazing, word would spread. And for me, I haven't heard too many Irish bands that really excite me (there's been a few, who I'll write about in the next while.)

In this context I bought the new limited edition Sweet Jane EP 'Black Boots + Black Hearts' from Tower Records at the weekend. I'd heard a couple of songs from them before and had been impressed. The EP however is fantastic. There's five songs and I think it's one of the best Irish releases in a long time. Sometimes it's hard to describe exactly why music is good, most of the time it just is. This is one of those times and I'd highly recommend picking up the ep while it's still available (it's only physically on sale in Tower in Dublin and through their website, with only a limited number available. It's available through iTunes etc as well). It's always impossible to predict what the future holds for bands and how people will react to the music. I'd get right behind this band though.



Sweet Jane - You're Making This Hard