Party: Ana Gog (Ireland)

Party: Ana Gog (Ireland)

Ana Gog are five-piece band comprising five school/college friends who bonded over a shared love of music. Michael Gallen (piano, acoustic guitar, vocals), Colm Keenan (drums, percussion), Ciarán McCann (electronics, vocals), Robert Molumby (bass, vocals) and Adam Fleming (electric guitar, vocals) began playing music together during the late 00’s, refining their sound and songs through countless gigs and rehearsals. They emerged in 2013 with debut long-player ‘Making Trails’. The album was very warmly received, with State.ie claiming that Ana Gog possessed a ‘focus on composition and arrangement which might just set them apart’ and the Irish Times noticing the classical-led similarities to Owen Pallett and Nico Muhly. After launching the album with a sold-out gig in Dublin’s Unitarian Church, the band embarked on a year of intense gigging and writing, taking in shows at Electric Picnic, Indiependence, Kilkenny Arts Fest, Galway Arts Fest, Hard-Working Class Heroes, the Ten Days in Dublin Festival, Fading Light Festival and their own first-ever headline show in Dublin’s Whelan’s venue, which the band packed to capacity. They rounded out 2013 with a December tour of India, which came about through an invitation to perform at Asia’s largest cultural college festival, the Mood Indigo festival in Mumbai. Not content to relax upon return, the band then supported Irish singer-songwriter legend Mark Geary at a special Christmas gig in Dublin.
They then aimed to carry that momentum into 2014, by hitting the studio in January to record a clutch of new songs in sessions that would eventually produce current EP ‘Resemblance’. Featuring a leaner, more incisive sound than ‘Making Trails’, the EP contains hints of several exciting new directions which the band may take for their second album, currently still in gestation. Released in June 2014 at a packed, sweaty gig in Dublin’s Grand Social, ‘Resemblance’ sees the band really begin to come into their own as musicians, arrangers and, especially, harmony singers. With a greater emphasis on electronic sounds, as well as more traditional elements of bass, drums, piano and electric guitar, ‘Resemblance’ sees Michael Gallen’s songwriting stride confidently forward in tandem with his band mates’ instrumental abilities. The band have gigged relentlessly since its release, and are currently organising a tour or Northern Europe, as well as further recording sessions, which they hope will yield another release before the end of the year.

Invited: Stephan Schlage, Alex Bender, Niccolo Angelo d'Angelo Franzoni