In association with National Concert Hall
Over two nights Haunted Dancehall will see over 40 artists - from the adjoining worlds of electronic, contemporary classical, ambient, hauntology, noise and experimental music - perform in five different rooms throughout the National Concert Hall from 7pm to late. A startling new festival for Ireland’s iconic venue.
The musical vortexes of Caterina Barbieri rewire time and space. The Italian composer and musician presents her new live show The Spirit Exit on NCH’s Main Stage. Listening to the Italian composer and modular synth virtuoso has felt like traveling at light-speed and slow- motion all at once since 2017’s breakthrough double-album Patterns Of Consciousness. Far beyond any new age trope or modern synth trend, her music stands alone in its ecstatic intensity and cataclysmic emotional impact. Marking the debut album on her new label light-years, Barbieri now delivers her most profound work yet —a journey through inner-space as vast as a universe and as intimate as a heartbeat. The Spirit Exit opens and we fall in.
Blackhaine is a UK based project operating between Noise and Drill. With its origins in the static anxiety of 2020, their output focuses on the ‘transition from stomach knotted dread to exhaustive, prang-out negative ecstasy’. A political act - the live show contains deconstructions of their existing sounds and future releases whilst experimenting with genre convention ranging from ambience to hardcore punk.
Coby Sey is a producer, vocalist and DJ, who, after years spent buzzing around the DIY artist circuitry of South East London, has developed a distinctive presence as a performer and producer offering a shifting, disorienting vision of club music. A long-time collaborator with Mica Levi, Tirzah, Babyfather, Klein, and Kwes, Coby’s long awaited debut album ‘Conduit’ will be released on September 9th through AD93.
Smerz are the Norwegian duo of Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg. Known for the “carefully shaped, deconstructed pop” (Boomkat) of their debut EP’s Oke and Have Fun, Smerz seamlessly weave together techniques and sounds pulled from chamber and classical music, hip hop, R&B, and hard electronics, with the end product always resulting in something altogether uncanny.
As a founding member of Cork band the Altered Hours and a collaborator in projects like Crevice, Howlbux, and Morning Veils, Elaine Howley has spanned impressive territory in the Irish musical underground.
Ana Roxanne is a New York based musician working at the interzone of electric meditation, dream pop, and ambient songcraft. Her inspirations span the secular (R&B divas of 1980’s and 90’s) and the spiritual (Catholic choral traditions in which she was raised), synthesized into a uniquely intuitive sonic language, equal parts atmospheric and ancient, healing and hermetic.
Laila Sakini is a London-based producer and DJ originally from Melbourne. Working with piano, voice, guitar, found sound, electronics and silence Laila creates dynamic and textured environments that provide the listener with space to develop their own meanings and responses.
Haunted Dancehall also features live sets from pioneering Irish electronica innovators David Donohoe, Frog of Earth and Donabate producer Chósta and DJ sets from Jio, EMA, Bambi and R. KITT.