Lankum‘s Daragh Lynch has spoken to NME about the continued success of their breakthrough album ‘False Lankum’, and Ireland’s huge cultural footprint in 2024.
Guitarist Lynch was speaking to NME after this was announced that ‘False Lankum’ had been nominated for Best Album at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards this week (April 13) – up against records by Sampha, Yussef Dayes, RAYE, and CMAT.
Speaking about the prestige of the Ivors, Lynch said: “It’s more about in-house respect for people who do what you do, rather than any kind of public or audience buzz.”
“The last year has been absolutely mad,” he continued, looking back on 12 months also saw ‘False Lankum’ nominated for the 2023 Mercury Prize. “It’s been very unexpected. We spent the last four albums just really dedicating ourselves to what we want to do. We thought the last album was one of the weirdest and most inaccessible that we’ve done so far, but for some reason it’s the one that everyone picked up on. Maybe we just need to get weirder and weirder!”
He added: “We’re just following these threads to their logical conclusion. Sometimes that’s being as dark as possible or as intense as possible, or maybe as light as possible. We just want to see how far we can go. We’re not playing to the gallery or trying to make music that people will like; I think people appreciate that.”
Lynch also noted the current dominance of Ireland’s cultural footprint. Some of the most in-demand names for the big screen include Cillian Murphy, Paul Mescal, Saoirse Ronan, Barry Keoghan, while the guitarist put a particular onus on the spirit of those making waves in Irish music in 2024 – thanks to the likes of Fontaines D.C., CMAT, KNEECAP, The Mary Wallopers, Sprints, NewDad and many more.
“There’s something going on across the board, culturally at the moment,” he said. “I have a theory that it’s something to do with this generation just being a bit more confident than previous ones. They’re breaking free – whether it’s from something colonial or Catholic church-based. There’s definitely been a thing with previous generations in Ireland with generational trauma and not being entirely confident.
“There’s been a lot with this generation around referendums around abortion, gay marriage, and people turning around and saying, ‘Well, fuck that’. They’ve got the confidence to stand up and be themselves.”
He added: “For a long time, we’ve been punching [above our weight]. Definitely in terms of music and literature. I don’t why it’s those things; maybe it’s to do with Ireland’s traditions of poetry and bards and stuff – going back hundreds, thousands of years. We’ve a slightly different mindset, something poetic.”
In spite of this, that confidence also comes married with a certain Irish humility, Lynch argued. “You couldn’t get away with being cocky; that’s one thing you can’t get away with in Ireland,” he laughed. “One person who does that is Bono, and it doesn’t go down that well in Ireland!”
Looking to the future, Lynch said he hoped that the band would tour the US and Japan, eventually pen a movie soundtrack, and that he’d love to meet author and comic book legend Alan Moore.
Asked about what to expect from the Lankum’s fifth album, Lynch said that “all we know is that it’s going to happen”.
“After that, we’ve no idea about what it’s going to sound like,” he said. “I’d like to do more original stuff. We’ve done original stuff on all the albums, but it’s always been a few among the traditional stuff and instrumentals. I’d like to get a bit more creative with that side of things.
“You look at the likes of The Pogues. They started off doing a load of traditional stuff on each album, then they got more and more into writing their own songs – and some of them are phenomenal. You look at people like that and think, ‘Just fuck it – go for it.”
The Ivor Novellos with Amazon Music will take place on May 23 at London’s Grosvenor House.