Fenian

About

Artists react in different ways to having the eyes of the world on them. Some are buoyed by it, driven to new height, while others beat a retreat, heading back to more familiar ground. Since emerging in 2018 with their ferociou, irreverent take on hip-hop, Belfast/Derry trio Kneecap have never come across as the latter type. Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí relish a challenge, and the two years leading up to this record placed them in an intense glare. That period included their eponymou, Michael Fassbender-starring feature film, 2024 album <i>Fine Art</i>, and a high-profile court case (Mo Chara was alleged to have displayed a flag in support of a proscribed organization at a London gig—a charge he denied—and the case was later thrown out). It’s inspired Kneecap to go even harder and make their most definitive statement yet. “A lot of bands will be able to lock themselves off from the world for two months to create an album,” Mo Chara tells Apple Music’s Matt Wilkinson. “Whereas we had the opposite. We were completely in the limelight, having to go stand outside court and all these other kinds of distraction. You have your whole life to write your first album and then you have a year to write your second and people are trying to draw on experience. There was no lack of issues or lived experiences that we had that year. So I think that helped the album that we had so much going on.” .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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