Irish folk-rock duo Basciville release their new album 'Love In The Time Of The State' via Faction Records
Irish folk-rock duo Basciville release their long-awaited second album ‘Love In The Time Of The State’ via Faction Records. A bold, emotionally charged record shaped by the pressures and contradictions of modern life, the album arrives alongside its powerful title-track, a centrepiece that captures the project’s heart, urgency and fragile hope.
Across its runtime, ‘Love In The Time Of The State’ sees Wexford-born brothers Cillian and Lorcan Byrne grappling with the realities of contemporary existence: political frustration, economic strain, and the quiet determination required to continue creating beauty within it. Written during a period of personal and societal reflection, the record blends folk-rooted storytelling with cinematic arrangements and soaring emotional crescendos.
“This album was our way back into making music just for us,” the band explain. “We stopped thinking about where it might live and who might hear it and just let it be a coalescence of the things that get us off musically. Thematically everything came out of the feelings that can’t help but emerge from modern living, from the will to do something beautiful and the frustration with everything that’s set in the way of making that an easy, affordable process.”
The title-track “Love In The Time Of The State” stands as the album’s emotional core. At once weary and defiant, it reflects the band’s belief that connection and compassion remain acts of resistance in an increasingly fractured world.
“‘Love in the Time of the State’ is an album about modern living,” they continue. “Being sick in the heart at the state of things yet resolutely hopeful, focusing on the people still loving, kicking and screaming on this island. A love letter to all the acrobats, still chancing it out on the wire.”
Musically, the record draws on a wide palette, evoking the spirit of artists such as Jeff Buckley, late-90s Radiohead, Nirvana Unplugged, and Gustavo Santaolalla, while retaining Basciville’s distinctive blend of folk intimacy and widescreen atmosphere. Tracks like “Higher Plans,” “Meteors and Let Downs,” and “Saintmaking” explore themes of self-reflection and resilience, while “Your Own Head,” their haunting duet with Ailbhe Reddy, anchors the album’s emotional depth.
Equal parts band and production duo, Basciville have spent the past few years as quiet powerhouses in the Irish music scene, working as collaborators, writers and producers with names including Susan O’Neill, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, The Ocelots, and Ailbhe Reddy herself. Their own output to date includes the EPs ‘Blues in Red’ and ‘For All Lost Youth’, as well as their acclaimed debut album ‘Hymns to the Air’.
Known for blending folk, art rock, orchestral swells, and lyrical introspection, their sound moves between sparse minimalism and expansive arrangements, always led by a desire to soundtrack both the personal and political unrest of modern life.
Their second album, written in the wake of socio-political disillusionment and spiritual fatigue, explores the dissolution of ideals, the friction between vulnerability and survival, and the quiet rebellions that begin inside your own mind.
Catch Basciville live at the following shows:
March 20th – Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford
April 2nd – Whelan’s, Dublin
April 10th – Coughlan’s, Cork
April 11th – Levis’, Ballydehob
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