New music: Jafaris, RuthAnne and Kojaque plus spotlight artist Don Mescall

Happy St Patrick’s Day! Hopefully it’s one without regrets of all the whisky and Guinness you may have drunk the night before, because I’m about to rattle out a bunch of new music to get on your speakers, starting with some of Ireland’s finest.

There’s the soulful Irish singer-songwriter RuthAnne, who just released her new single “Love Again”, and the incredible Jafaris – currently at the forefront of the booming Irish hip hop scene – with his debut album Stride. The Dublin-based artist’s videos are always good, but if you have time today you should check out the one for “Find My Feet”, which has him rapping while sky-diving.

Jafaris’ fellow Dubliner Kojaque is also on my playlist with his most recent track, “Flu Shot”. Kojaque, born Kevin Smith, raps in a Dublin accent as he deconstructs toxic masculinity and opines on the mundanities of life via the music he puts out on his own Soft Boy Records.

South London musician Poppy Ajudha has released a gorgeous new single called “Devil’s Juice” (sounds like another name for whisky), which delivers more of those incredible soul vocals and dreamy harmonies over laid-back jazz and R&B beats.

My fave Hak Baker is back with more softly spoken portraits of life as he sees it, whether it’s hanging out with mates or recovering the next day: as much poetry as it is music. Check him out.

Eight-piece Norwegian band Fieh, who just signed to Universal records, have dropped an absolute belter of a debut single: “25.” Sofie Tollefsbøl leads with smoky vocals over that fun bass hook that makes me think wistfully of summer.

Check out the Now Hear This playlist!

This week’s spotlight artist is something a little different. I saw Don Mescall by chance performing an acoustic set outside of a lighthouse on the harbour in my parent’s town, and went over to say hello at the end as I thought he was great. It turned out that he’s written for a bunch of major pop acts including The Backstreet Boys, Ronan Keating and Rascal Flatts, along with his own music, which is more in the folk vein. His latest album, Lighthouse Keeper, charted at number one in Ireland upon release and he’s playing a live show as part of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in London today. I caught up with him to see what’s been going on.

Hey Don! What have you been up to so far this year?

Hey Roisin, since my album came out it’s been non-stop really. I’ve mostly been on the road including trips to Nashville, Madrid, Dublin... I also have my own recording studio here in London by the River Thames, so as well as promoting the new album, we’ve been busy here in the UK with two exciting projects that I’m co-producing and co-writing. I’ve also been finishing a project, which started a few years ago, for the late great Henry McCullough. It features some amazing contributions from Nick Mason, Paul McCartney, Gary Brooker, Paul Carrick and the London Community Gospel Choir to name but a few.

I’ve been seeing so many great artists coming out of Ireland in the past few years, whether they’re punk, folk, rock, pop or hip hop – would you say that’s a new thing or is the industry just paying more attention?

I’ve been based here in London now for over 20 years but I’m always over and back to Ireland and keep a hand in with Irish artists. I’ve enjoyed working with a young artist from Waterford called Moncrieff. He’s a very talented guy who’s bound for big things. It’s always a joy to go back and work there. I was also in lovely Dublin last week working in Windmill Lane Recording Studios with Nicky Byrne from Westlife. It was great fun and I got to have a few pints of the black stuff – it always seems to taste better there!

You’re taking part in St Patrick’s Day celebrations in London – is there anything about Irish culture you’ve been thinking about for this year?

Yes, I feel very honoured to be headlining the main stage at Trafalgar Square for this year’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations in London (March 17 at 4pm ) with my band. I’ve embraced Irish trad music a little more in the last two years and I’ve started to play mandolin, and occasionally the bodhrán, on stage. My buddy Sharon Corr, who of course is a wonderful musician as well as a fine songwriter, encouraged me to give it a shot and I’m loving it. Also I’m never far away from a book of Seamus Heaney’s poems – so I’m keeping the Irish flame alive here in London.

What have you got lined up for the rest of 2019?

We are about to start planning a new album for release most likely in November this year, so that will take up lots of time both here and in Nashville over the next few months. We also have quite a few shows coming up both here and in Europe promoting Lighthouse Keeper, so just after the London show we’ll head over to France for three dates, then on to Switzerland. I will also be doing what I guess I’ve always done, which is write for and with other artists. I love my job!