Here’s Daithi. A fiddle-playing, house music-making, loopstation-tweaking, button-pushing, hair-flicking bundle of energy.
You might recognise him from his brushes with TV talent shows (TG4’s The All-Ireland Talent Show). Or his appearances the length and breadth of Ireland (to crammed festival tents, or supporting the likes of DJ Shadow, Santigold, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, De La Soul and Todd Terje). Or you might have heard some of his studio excursions with various members of the country’s close-knit underground community (Elaine Mai, Liza Flume, Monto, the Breaking Bread collective). But it’s unlikely you would be expecting ‘Chameleon Life’.
The new single is a result of unlikely coincidences and chance encounters. A series of studio sessions with like-minded producer and pal Ian Ring (Young Wonder) followed by another friend’s trip to an Icelandic festival, which led to a meeting with Raye, an Irish singer based in London. The result is ‘Chameleon Life’, the new single – a direct blast of electronic pop with its hands raised high to the summer sun.
It’s the starting shot of Daithi’s summer assault, which will see the Galway-based musician bring his “big sounds, big lights and big energy” to as many festivals as he can.