Exiles

 Following a 2-year break, Carlow indietronica duo EXILES return to the Irish scene with a fresh impetus and change in direction.

EXILES are multi-instrumentalist duo Jack O’Flaherty and Darragh O’Connor. The Carlow duo’s 2016 hit, ‘Red Lights’, from the EP of the same name, graced every synth-wave Spotify playlist worth its salt. In Ireland, publications from Hot Press Magazine to The Irish Times were full of praise and RTÉ 2fm, Today FM and Whelan’s all heralded Exiles as ‘ones to watch’. Bolstered by a series of successful gigs throughout Ireland, airplay soon followed across the UK, and as far away as Sydney, Moscow and L.A., with their follow-up single ‘Rearview Mirror’ becoming a fixture on regional and national radio playlists since it’s 2019 release.

After a 2-year hiatus EXILES have returned to the writing room to craft new music that takes them in a different direction to their previous synth-pop outing. 

‘Before we parked things, we had gone down a rabbit hole of trying to write music that certain people wanted. It didn’t resonate and it left us both feeling cold. Now we’re writing for us and we’re excited by what we have to share’ 

One thing is clear from what EXILES have in store: they won’t be shoehorned into any one genre, with diverse musical influences range from the likes of St. Lucia to Talking Heads, Hurts and Arctic Monkeys. There is a confidence about their music that comes from an obsession with their craft, innate talent, and a mission to embrace contradictions, with Hot Press Magazine anticipating, “Everyone might want a piece of these guys soon.”