Things To Do: Acquire a cap, appreciate some video games, spin the water-based songs

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Our recommendations – no sponsored content, or adverts, just stuff we like.

The Sei

On Thursday, the Irish-Swedish electronic trio The Sei is set to release their new EP We Must Be Still Alive?

Following on from 2023’s Bluebells., the group, composed of Stace Gill, Maria Nilsson Waller and producer Ross Dowling, returns with a hypnotic and delicate blend of soft pulsating synths, distant piano and guitar melodies, and ghostly vocals. 

Billed as the first of a series of scheduled releases for 2026, We Must Be Still Alive? draws from numerous places, including “the future, the out of bodies, the whales, a girl murdered by her husband for writing poetry” as well as migration, mountains, “pure live, time travel and endless nights”, according to the group.

Ahead of its release next Thursday 23 April, the group already dropped its first single "Whale Song", which you can hear here.

The album will be available to purchase digitally over on Bandcamp here, and to stay up to date with The Sei, follow their Instagram page here.

Bodies of Water

Last Friday, Bodies of Water, a new project from experimental drummer Jason McNamara and singer Cara Coyle, officially released its first single "that way".

A raw but soothingly soulful track to get lost in, "that way" is guided by glistening synthesizers and McNamara’s atypical rhythms and eclectic mix of percussion, while Coyle’s tender, alto voice drifts over the sombre accompaniment for almost nine minutes.

The single, which can be heard here, precedes the release of the group’s first eponymous compilation album, which drops over on Bandcamp on 1 May.

Made up of “improvised one-off pieces”, this first batch of recordings was assembled over the last couple of years, McNamara says.

The group, he also notes, is “just whoever is in Cara's band at the time of the recordings”, and the line-up on the first record includes, alongside Coyle and McNamara, Patrick King, Alex Moore and Daniel Cregan. 

On the Ropes

Spring is here, the sun is occasionally visible, and many people are browsing the aisles for a decent hat.

But, for those in the market for a serious hat, the Temple Bar Gallery + Studios might be the place to go, because on Wednesday, the visual artist Léann Herlihy is launching a new cap design called On The Ropes.

The concept behind the cap is inspired by Herlihy’s own artistic practice. It pulls references from unarchived fragments, found at the back of storage rooms, plucked from the virtual threads of online forums, and clipped from the female wrestling magazine Fighting Gals Monthly: A Galaxy of Female Combat.

Even more intriguing and enticing, this cap comes with an inscribed pencil, and a custom-designed, 3D-printed pencil holder, which is inspired by those commonly found on construction workers’ hard hats.

All of this is intended to encourage the wearer of the cap to appreciate the “transformative power of collapse”, a position which goes against the narrative that one must be “resilient” and simply “bounce back” through labour to meet daily demands.

On The Ropes is a celebration of strained bodies, and those who resist flexibility, in favour of challenging the status quo and “shattering a system which never served us”"

The launch is at 6pm on Wednesday 22 April, and honestly, this sounds like a really good cap.

A Quiet Love

Out in Blanchardstown on Wednesday evening, Draíocht is holding a special screening of the documentary A Quiet Love, the first feature-length film to be produced in Irish sign language.

Directed by Garry Keane, the film looks at three deaf couples: a mixed-religion couple who share their experience of living through the Troubles; a same-sex couple who open up about IVF and parenting; and a deaf boxer and his hearing partner who reflect on a life-changing decision they are faced with.

After the screening, producers Anne Heffernan and Sean Herlihy will hold a Q&A, which will include ISL interpretation.

The screening is at 7:30pm on Wednesday 22 April, evening. Tickets are €7.50 and can be purchased here.

CTRL

Also next Thursday, CTRL, a new anthology book which examines the video game as an art form is set to be released by The Lilliput Press.

Edited by Dean Fee, the essay collection reflects on how video games have been in our lives for over 60 years and formed a crucial part of many people’s lives – not only their childhoods, but adulthoods too.

CTRL explores the good and the bad sides of gaming: how different games offer us a new way of looking at the world, and give the writers a chance to look at themselves by asking how this art form has affected them and influenced the way they write. It also wonders how the video game can evolve, and whether the medium can retain its artistic integrity in the face of our increased use of AI tools.

Among the book’s contributors are Rob Doyle, Donal Fullam, Úna-Minh Kavanagh, Róisín Kiberd, Lisa McInerney, John Patrick McHugh and Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan. And if you’re looking for a reason to procrastinate in the name of “research” ahead of its release, the essays go deep on games like Fallout: New Vegas, the Pokémon series, Disco Elysium, Red Dead Redemption, and Driver, the latter being a PS1 game in which – despite having owned it for 27 years – I am still unable to pass my driving test during the tutorial level.

CTRL can be purchased here, and it will be officially launched in Books Upstairs on Thursday 30 April at 6:30pm. To reserve a seat, visit the store’s event page here.

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SIGNS present: 

Elikya (Congolese 9-piece rumba/soukous) 
David DeBarra (experimental folk 3-piece) 
Farah Elle (alternative singer-songwriter) 
Cormorant Tree Oh (experimental folk, drone, psych)
+ DJs Pablo Santo & more 

3 May at The Sugar Club, Dublin 2 | 20:00—03:00

Tickets

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Consultation launched for new Public Play Facilities in Loughshinny

Fingal County Council has launched a public consultation for a new public play facility planned in Loughshinny.

The consultation is being carried out under the Part XI process, which gives the public an opportunity to view the proposals and share their views before the Council makes a final decision.

Further details about the consultation and how to make submissions can be found here.

The deadline for submissions is 27 May.

Family Friendly Tour at Ardgillan Castle

Fingal County Council has officially launched a new family friendly tour of Ardgillan Castle in Balbriggan

The self-guided audio tour is delivered through the voice of the 19th century matriarch Lady Marianne St. Leger Taylor.  A significant community figure and socialite, Marianne kept daily diaries revealing daily life behind the Castle doors, which form the basis of the tour.

The audio tour is available in five languages - English, Irish, German, Spanish, French and Polish.

Open 7 days a week from 10am to 4pm, the tour costs €10 per adult, €7 per child (under 18), €30 for 2 adults and 2 children, €8 seniors (65+).

For more information, visit Ardgillan Castle’s website here.

Parallel Visions – an exhibition by Lily Abbas and Ema Carvi

On 7 May, Reds Gallery will officially launch Parallel Visions, a new two-person exhibition by artists Emanuela Carvisiglia and Lily Kassab.

Through different languages, the exhibition explores the relationship between presence and transformation. The works establish a dialogue between figure and fluidity, with, on the one hand, images that emerge and dissolve through liquid surfaces, and on the other, forms of bodies that are constructed through layers of colour and memories.

Parallel Visions opens at 6pm on Thursday, 7 May, and will run until 13 May.

The Coast of Everything launch

On 17 June, Guillermo Stitch will be launching his new novel The Coast of Everything in Hodges Figgis at 6pm.

Stitch will be in conversation with June Caldwell, author of Room Little Darker, and David Collard, author of Multiple Joyce.

You can find out more about Stitch’s second novel here, and to reserve a space at the launch, visit its event page here.