Elder Island – announces headline show at Button Factory Dublin

Following last month’s sold out return to the stage in London and Bristol, where fans were given a first glimpse of forthcoming album Hello Baby Okay, Elder Island share new single ‘Letters’, out 8th April via !K7.

The band also announced a headline tour, marking a full return to the stage. The run kicks off in Cardiff on 21st October, with stops in Dublin, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Brighton, Bristol and London, including a show at London’s iconic KOKO.

Recently selected by Elton John for his Apple Music show Rocket Hour, the fourth single from the forthcoming album, ‘Letters’ sees the Bristol trio take a more introspective turn. Expansive and slow burning in its progression, the track unfolds through layered instrumentation, expressive vocals and a steady, chugging rhythm that carries it forward. There is a cinematic quality to its world building, drawing on fragments of science fiction and folk imagery, all threaded through the feeling of a long, open-ended road trip.

Built around a driving low end groove and analogue led production, much of the track was shaped using the Dave Smith / Roger Linn Tempest, before being expanded with Rhodes and guitar. The result is a quintessential Elder Island composition, immersive, detailed and emotionally resonant, balancing rhythmic momentum with a sense of space and restraint.

Speaking on the track, Katy Sargent explains:

“Lyrically I wanted to evoke snatches of visual imagery; ‘the charmed balloon’ or the ‘big dog watching the road’, but as passing scenes, like glimpses from a car window. I was drawing on memories of folk tales and science fiction novels. The track became a kind of psychedelic road trip, with flashes of storyline, almost like a game of eye spy”.

Elder Island worked with illustrator Aurelia Lange on the video for ‘Letters’, having previously collaborated on ‘Welcome State’ in 2017. Hand-drawn in ink and digital pen, the animation is inspired by the strobing light and shifting perspectives of countryside night drives. Blurring reality and imagination, it captures fleeting, half-seen moments in motion. As Lange puts it, it explores “glimpses, images not quite realised… the play of passing shadows at night.”

The single continues a strong run of releases for the band, following November’s return with ‘Ordinary Love’, alongside the Crack and Mixmag supported ‘Pink Lemon’, and March’s ‘Snapshot’, which marked their first true love song and leaned further into rhythm led, dancefloor informed songwriting.

‘Letters’ builds on that momentum while highlighting another side of Hello Baby, Okay, a record that marks a conscious reset in the band’s creative process. Where 2021’s Swimming Static was meticulously constructed, the new album emerged from free flowing jam sessions, reconnecting the trio with spontaneity, play and the energy of their live shows. Rooted in 90s club culture and threaded with lilting funk pop guitars and driving rhythms, the record balances hedonism and introspection in equal measure.

Formed in 2013, Elder Island (Katy Sargent, Luke Thornton and David Havard) have spent the past decade carving out a distinct space between electronic and indie music. With over 365 million global streams and support from BBC Radio 6 Music, they have built a dedicated following, taking their immersive live show to venues including London’s Roundhouse and Printworks, New York’s BoweryBallroom and LA’s El Rey Theatre, as well as festivals such as Latitude, Lost Village and Love Saves The Day.

ELDER ISLAND
FRI, 23 OCTOBER 2026 || BUTTON FACTORY, DUBLIN

TICKETS €25.00 INCL. FEES
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