In this week's new music review, we celebrate Irish Waltzes; a 1-2-3 with with a modern spin
- Richard Blowes
- Jun 10
- 3 min read
This week we review three (obviously!) new Irish tracks in waltz time with music from Pebbledash, The Altered Hours and Cardinals.
Credits L-R: Moreen Kamdem, Alain Bib, Emilyn Cardona
Waltz time in Ireland has always occupied a curious place — 3/4 time swinging gently between the worlds of the céilí and both the snug and the public bar, the old dance halls and the modern dive. Sentimental, romantic, a capacity for darkness. It’s a rhythm both ancient and oddly contemporary: three beats circling endlessly, a little off-kilter, perfect for love songs, laments, and that last slow shuffle of the night.
As an example of its adaptability take The Pogues' A Pair Of Brown Eyes - although not strictly in 3/4 time (actually 12/8) it marries the dreamy, romantic feel to a tale of war, mutilation and a desperate search for an unrequited love.
Historically, the Irish waltz — as distinct from its Viennese or Scottish counterparts — gained traction in the early 20th century, particularly in rural dance halls. Where reels and jigs demanded a coordination many maybe couldn’t summon after plenty of pints of plain, the waltz invited closeness. It was the tune that permitted dancers to be together, that dared the first hand on a shoulder, that lingered in a sweet memory of skin long after the band packed up. Not for nothing was it once called 'the forbidden dance'.
But like most forms of Irish music, the waltz isn’t stuck in a nostalgic frame. Today’s songwriters continue to embrace 3/4 time — often not as a nod to the past, but as a natural fit for a certain kind of song: yearning, spacious, off-centre.
Here are three new Irish tracks — all in waltz time — that show just how alive and relevant that old rhythm remains. Coincidentally (or maybe not?) all three bands are from Cork.
1. Pebbledash - Asha's Waltz
Pebbledash are building a reputation for blending haunting trad adjacent textures with heavy noise, all underpinned with authentic, heartfelt songwriting. Asha’s Waltz is no exception - a woozy, shimmering waltz that seems to hover just above the ground.
Anchored by a simple acoustic guitar and reedy organ wheeze, multiple voices both human and instrumental weave in and out giving the song a distorted sense of time and location. It wouldn't be out of place on the Paris, Texas soundtrack if the action relocated from the desert to the shifting, liminal light of a Cork headland.
The 3/4 pulse is subtle but insistent, like the gentle tug of a memory pulling the narrator back. Vocalist Asha Egan McCutcheon notes “it's about navigating landscapes of memory and exploring complicated family relationships and the strain that can come with growth in those relationships.” Perfect material for the meditative measure of a waltz.
2. The Altered Hours – Lay There With You
Cork alt psych heroes The Altered Hours are not a band you’d typically associate with waltz time - but now they have, trust them to make it dark, hypnotic and unexpected. The thrilling guitar trill after the chorus is one of the year's highlights so far.
It lulls you in, then leaves you somewhere entirely new. Think a Nick Cave murder ballad via Mazzy Star with the Roy Orbison filter on.
Lay There With You unfolds with a slow, yet very definite 3/4 beat, driven by a sixties Scott Walker sounding snare drum and reverb-drenched guitar. There’s a Lynchian feel to the whole thing: spacious, seductive, vaguely unsettling. The waltz rhythm here isn’t about dance — it’s about trance. It lulls you in, then leaves you somewhere entirely new. Think a Nick Cave murder ballad via Mazzy Star with the Roy Orbison filter on.
As with much of The Altered Hours’ work, it’s both cinematic and intimate, built both for late nights and the next day's comedown.
3. Cardinals – Big Empty Heart
Cardinals - another of the bright young bands emerging from Cork’s fertile scene - are already adept at marrying classic songcraft with raw, emotional punch. Big Empty Heart might be their boldest swing yet: a bruised, open-hearted waltz that wears its influences proudly but never feels derivative.
When you hear the crushing, fuzz guitar married with box accordion, it seems obvious - why didn't someone do this before? Combined with the 3/4 sway it gives the sense of the track being at once old and completely of its time. The raw vocals up fronted in the mix lean into the song’s aching core. There’s a universality here - anyone who’s carried a "big empty heart" will find themselves empathetically nodding along.
It’s proof that the humble waltz remains relevant and can still hit hard.
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