Madra Salach Announce Debut Album ‘Gorta’ For January
Produced by Loren Humphrey in New York, the record introduces its sound with ‘Ribbon Factory.’
Dublin six-piece Madra Salach have announced their debut album, Gorta, due January 15, 2027, via Island Records. The announcement follows the release of “Ribbon Factory,” the first single from the record. Named after the Irish word for “hunger,” the album examines inheritance, what passes between generations, and the different forms that longing can take. Its music draws on Irish traditional forms while moving toward darker, more experimental sounds.
Click to load video
Frontman and lyricist Paul Banks described how his writing connected personal experiences with broader questions of Irish identity. “I usually write from personal experience,” he said. “I try not to go too big-picture. I can tap into the emotions that way.” As he developed the material, those individual concerns took on a wider significance. “The ideas of longing and yearning, all the kinds of hunger, they slot into where we are as 21st century Irish people. The more I’ve thought and written about Irishness, the more I’ve seen how strange a history and a position and a culture we have.”
All six members wrote the album collectively and recorded together as a full group. Loren Humphrey produced the sessions in New York; his recent credits include Westside Cowboy and Cameron Winter. The arrangements range from quieter, intimate passages to full-band eruptions. Oscar Torrans created the cover artwork, which depicts a Blemmyes, a headless figure from ancient legend whose face sits in its chest.
Gorta follows the band’s debut EP, It’s a Hell of an Age, which reached No. 3 on the Irish Albums Chart and the Top 10 of the UK Official Independent Albums Chart. Their festival appearances have included The Great Escape, End of the Road, Primavera, Latitude, Roskilde, and Green Man. The group are currently on a sold-out UK headline tour, with stops including London’s Electric Ballroom and Manchester’s New Century Hall. Sold-out tours in Ireland and North America will follow. They also have a performance on Jools Holland scheduled for October 25.
