Polar Bolero

Polar Bolero can’t be defined by a specific genre. “Jazz, folk, rock and anything else is welcome as long as it blends in well.” 

Up n’ Comin NI is proud to present this weeks artist, Polar Bolero, a new Alt Folk songwriting duo consisting of multi-instrumentalists Cahir McLaughlin and Pearse Donaghy. “The band are named after Pearse’s favourite childhood book with the blessing of the author Debi Gliori.” 

 

Starting in early 2022 the band undertook their ambitious plan of recording their debut album ‘A Conversation,’ with an aim to release in mid 2023, following their promotional singles. ‘A Conversation,’ deals with issues of disillusionment and melancholy whilst living in post-pandemic, post-troubles NI.

 

Cahir and Pearse grew up together through school and university, studying music. “We never collaborated during this time and didn’t consider it until we were 21. We started the Polar Bolero Project because we wanted to create a musical collective that isn’t defined by genres and allowed us to create freely and express ourselves.”

 

They both describing working together as “Great. We both love the same kind of music. We always refer to our favourite artists in the studio when trying to achieve something in their sound.” This includes Irish artists such as Glen Hansard, Damian Rice and Duke Special, as well as acts like Radiohead, Tom Waits and Bon Iver.

 

Their words of wisdom… “Never eat yellow snow.”

 

A lot of their songs are derived from their own life experience. “I’m sure it happens subconsciously as much as it does happen consciously.”

 

“I feel like our best moments come from song writing. When we sit down together and get the pens out and really dig into an idea one of us have had it’s hard not to feel on top of the world, we always come away with something we are proud of. I feel our songwriting, arranging and producing always differs in influences which allows us to blend our inspirations and keep our music sounding original.”

 

Another thing the band are proud of, describing it as their “proudest achievement” is “our degrees in music. It took a lot of work.” This work has allowed them to discover multiple genres. “With our influences so heavily steeped in folk cand rock music our instrumentation mirrors and represents this while also being free to constantly challenge and deconstruct our songs.”

 

“Our sound changes with every show, we mix our ensemble up and are constantly experimenting… fusing genres together and pushing our band to the extreme.”

 

Describing themselves as “Having the X-Factor”, Polar Bolero try to gig as much as possible. “They seem to be rolling in these days and we are getting a lot of great feedback.”

 

“We recently played Stendhal festival, our first show as a full band. With our live setup being so malleable, our instrumentation changes with every show but at Stendhal our full arsenal was on display and it was very exciting for us to showcase what we are capable of, there are many more shows planned where we hope to replicate this, as singers it’s very inspiring to have such great support musically and a great audience such as the one we played to there always adds to our performance as a band.”

So, what’s next for Polar Bolero?
“We will be releasing a new single very soon so keep an eye out for teasers and announcements. Also, it’s unconfirmed just yet but we are possibly headlining the pyramid stage in Glastonbury in a few years. Keep an eye on our socials for an update.”

Make sure you follow them and keep up to date with all their songs, events and gigs: 

Spotify: Polar Bolero

Instagram: Polarbolero

Facebook: Polar Bolero

TikTok: Polarbolero

YouTube: Polar Bolero