If you don’t know, get to know about the Irish/Northern Irish underground music scene. Two of the brightest gems in the rapidly emerging scene took to the Windmill, Brixton, on Wednesday with Esmeralda Road and Brooki rocking the now iconic London Venue. It’s not just diehard fans that are tapped into bands in this space as plenty of recognisable names from the music industry were spotted in the crowd, like former Wunderhorse bassist Pete Woodin, as well as Saint Clair frontman Toby Bardsley.
The night started with an artist I had personally not heard of before, John4Eva. A solo artist, just John and his guitar, really started the day off with a more sombre mood, very much in that Cameron Winter vibe of just a man and his instrument. In only a short time, John packed in a lot of blunt, hard-hitting songs about some of the sadder topics an artist could talk about, but I feel he didn’t really fit the vibe of the night, anyone who knows Esmeralda Road especially know they’re far from down tempo.
Speaking of, Belfast’s boisterous boys took to the stage next and lifted the night back up to the tempo we all came for. Everything Esmeralda Road feels like is perfectly encapsulated in their frontman, Charlie Magill. His stage presence, general aura, and actions on stage are something you won’t find anywhere else on the planet; whether it’s animalistic breakdowns or staring contests with crowd members, Magill brings so much to the table. The set itself was everything, and more. I had seen Esmeralda Road before opening for Basht, and I have been hooked since then. It was a short but sweet set for the Northern Irish band, but with songs like ‘7 Tune’ and ‘Park It’, every song feels memorable in its own way. The real stars of the show are ‘I Think’ and ‘Esmeralda’; these two songs could genuinely be two of the best songs I could recommend to anybody, ‘Esmeralda’ especially. Esmeralda Road are a band I struggle to genre, but one thing’s for sure. Whatever genre you think they are, they are one of the brightest young bands in that genre.
All of this before the real main event, Brooki. A band that feels like they have been around for longer than they have. Many were introduced to them by a TikTok video that went viral of their performance of ‘Amber’, but that was maybe 18 months ago. Amber remains Brooki’s biggest song, and it closed the night at the Windmill. The harrowing vocals from Sarah are a real spectacle that are ever-present across their whole discography. Sarah’s vocals throughout are the standout; every song feels built to show her off, and every song manages to come together into an almost operatic production. Using some musical techniques I haven’t seen before, like a violin bow being used on a bass guitar, there are so many aspects to the music that make it feel like nothing else in music.
Brooki have had some big supporting dates in their past with bands like Keo and The Wombats but still have no released music. Brooki find themselves in a weird position as a band. Selling out two dates at the Windmill shows the support and the hype behind this bunch, but I can’t help but feel they should be bigger and they’re being hamstrung by the lack of releases. This doesn’t take away from their talent, though; that will forever be undeniable. They just need to get something onto streaming platforms.
