Boa Morte play strangely-elegant melodic slowcore imbued and interspersed with elements of avant-folk, drone, electronic and even noise. Their music can be defiantly spacious and unhurried – a bit like their output: four albums in 25 years. Now emerging from a welcome period of heightened creativity, the Cork songsmiths are preparing to release two albums of beautiful melodic introspection in quick succession – two complementary records for launch 6 months apart.
The Following On is the first single from this ambitious project. Composed of a simple, laid-back, folky melody supported by ambient, experimental, drone and country aesthetics; the track opens with a tongue-drum clatter giving way to gently swaying guitar effects, quiet vocal melodies and a repetitive acoustic guitar motif before drums – and later a syncopated tongue drum motif – propel the song through sweeping waves of orchestration toward a beautifully shambolic conclusion.
Eschewing the obvious, Boa Morte draw from elements of folk, alt-Americana and post-rock, resulting in a sound that resists easy categorisation. What remains unmistakable, however, is the strength of the band’s melodic and creative instincts which are evident not only on this first single, but across the expanse of both pending albums.
The single serves as an enticing preview of the first full-length release in the series, Signal:Lost, which is due on 18 September 2026.
The process of recording two albums back-to-back has seen the band develop into a tighter ensemble that nevertheless relishes a newfound freedom for improvisation and innovation. As always, the quality of the songwriting remains key; if Signal:Lost represents a wayward distress-signal then it’s the band’s innate melodic compass that brings us firmly back on track.
The process has been important. The new studio provides space, both physical and temporal, to write, experiment and create. The decision to make something that sounds different to the previous records has been fundamental; to rethink a bassline, to experiment with oblique chords and rhythmic patterns, to deviate even more from the straightforward and familiar. Then to re-engage with James Darkin (who previously produced the bands third album Before There Was Air) as producer and engineer – in order to move from lo-fi to hi-fi and back again by recording in a range of Irish studios, and to combine this sound with the original demos.
The results are a collection of the best Boa Morte songs to date; songs that play with form and structure, that gently envelop drones, muted brass, melodic interludes and found-sounds. And the good news is that another album, equally beguiling, comes along in 2027!
Photo credit – Fiona Tate