Barnburner Talk New EP, Their Voices And More

Apr 16, 2026 | Interviews

Words by Glenn Sargeant

Feature Image Photo Credit: Luke Conroy

Dublin alternative-folk duo Barnburner have released their debut five-track EP, ‘Nothing to Hold’. They very kindly spoke to us:

Who is in Barnburner, how did you meet and what do you play?

Barnburner are an exciting, new alternative-folk duo from Dublin! We met as teenagers, through school.

We both write the songs and lyrics together, David writes the guitar lines and plays the guitar, and we both sing – though on this EP, it is mostly Pippa singing, with backing vocals from David on opening track, ‘Hound’, and closing track ‘Splinters’.

What is your earliest musical memory?

(David) Well, our earliest musical memory together is probably playing music for talent shows in school.

When did you begin songwriting?

(David) We began songwriting together after the (Covid-19) lockdowns ended I think. We didn’t have a very formal approach to the songwriting process, it was more ‘jamming’ or improv I guess. It came very naturally to us when we did it as a team I think. A guitar line or two would be brought to a practice session and Pippa would pretty much immediately sing over it, and the music would sound good pretty quickly. Most of the songwriting process after that point would revolve around writing lyrics and structuring the pieces.

You have your new EP ‘Nothing To Hold’ out now. How did you want to approach the making of the EP?

(David) We definitely wanted to capture how our music sounds when it’s live. That room sound. As much as we could. I guess the songwriting process comprised a lot of the making of this EP.

(Pippa) Yes, and then once in the production stage, we kept ourselves really open to our producer Dan’s ideas. He added a lot of atmospheric elements, some synth and reversed effects that we could not achieve live, we loved the direction he took it in. His addition of cello in ‘Hills’ added a darkness to the track that made it more brooding, and otherworldly. I think we were interested in what adding in those additional layers did to the original music, to shape something bigger than what was initially recorded.

Where did you record the EP and who produced it?

The EP was recorded in Paradise Studios, Dublin by engineer Greg Tisdall, and produced by Dublin based sound artist, Daniel Montague O’ Brien.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

(David) Being nearly deafened by condenser mics once or twice.

(Pippa) Recording ‘Splinters’ on a whim, we had just written that song when we were in the studio. We had a bit of extra time, so we decided we’d let Dan hear it. We were stuck on another song, a song that didn’t end up in the EP and when we performed it first in the studio, I could feel that Greg and Dan were immediately into it. I think we used that first recording in the final mix, and didn’t record a whole lot of takes of it. It sort of just came out of us, and ended up being our first single to release!

Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

(David) Small condenser mics for the guitar definitely helped the guitar sound live, and timbresome on the tracks. A lot of live mixing of the guitar at gigs consists of minimising or countering the plugged-in sound of the acoustic guitar. The condenser mics really got rid of that problem.

(Pippa) Yeah, I think recording the EP properly in the studio helped us to achieve the high quality sound we wanted. Though, I did end up having to re-record a lot of the vocal takes for Slow Replies at home (it is a hard song to sing), and Dan was able to match them up quite well with the original takes.

Which of your new EP tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

(Pippa) a) this is very much a bittersweet ep, so I wouldn’t really call anything ‘happy’, but maybe ‘slow replies’ feels the most upbeat? It might sound happy to listeners, if they aren’t listening to the lyrics! B) Splinters, it’s sort of a break up song “Look at me! Why do you hide away?” c) Hound – it feels quite otherworldly to me, mythical.

Was it a difficult EP to write?

(Pippa) The five tracks you hear on this EP were probably the most natural, organic songs to write for us. A lot of them sort of just came together, it felt magic. We have a lot of other songs that did not form this way, and that were not ready to be recorded. These songs felt similar in theme, and have gone down well live so we decided that these were the five songs we would record and put into a confident release, whereas others weren’t there yet. It’s funny, sometimes the music you’re proudest of, often the music people like best, is the music that feels like it writes itself, that comes together almost on its own… of course, I am sure some of the riffs for david took time to figure out, and for me it was about tweaking melodies slightly and changing lyrics that didn’t work – but I felt out of all of the songs in our canon, these five tracks came together quite freely.

(David) The songs are actually always easiest for us to write. The hard part was translating the sounds we like into the EP itself. I.e. recording and production. That was the tricky part. It was also my first time recording music and I think that made it trickier than it would have been otherwise.

Who designed the EP artwork?

Dublin artist & Illustrator Carmen Quigley.

(Pippa) A lot of Carmen’s work is inspired by myth and Irish folklore, which was also something that inspired songs on ‘Nothing to Hold’.

(David) She nailed the feel of the EP. Her style is really cool and intricate.

One of the tracks is ‘Slow Replies’. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?

(Pippa) The song moves between dream and suspicion. It follows a girl waking from a vivid dream, “that her lover shared a bed with some actor and never told her, and she had cried”. She texts him to confirm if the dream has any truth, but all she gets is Slow Replies – “Tell me I am dreaming nonsense!”.

It was inspired by a friend of mine who calls herself a ‘white witch’. She often has prophetic dreams. In this case, she had had a dream where something similar happened, her boyfriend had slept in a bed with someone else and lied about it, and it turned out to be true!

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

(David) Dublin! Familiar, homely, small, lively, artsy.

How do you look after your voices?

(David) Not singing when I don’t have to honestly, and drinking a lot of tea before a gig. Black tea.
(Pippa) David is mad for the tea! I don’t always remember to do that, but when I do it works out for the best. Unfortunately one of the last gigs we played, my voice was starting to go by the end – we were the last act of four to play, a lot of friends were there who I was chatting to over the loud music, and people kept buying me pints of Guinness – it made singing very difficult, so David’s right. Not speaking too much on the day of the gig, and warming up the throat with honey, tea and warm water really, really helps preserve it.

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2026?

We are trying to organise a few gigs in London this summer, and to play more Irish festivals around then too – though we can’t announce anything just yet…

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

(Pippa) that our music takes people places, that they can see themselves in the stories we are telling or if not, are transported to somewhere else entirely.

(David) I hope that our music will have made people happy. Also that I’ll own better music gear.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

(David) My Takamine. Only acoustic I’ve had. I don’t know how long it would take to get to know another instrument as well as I know it.

(Pippa) I want to replace my Korg Volca Beats drum machine and sampler. We had been using it quite a bit when we first made music, and it is a super easy little thing to use for live shows. I like having something to do on top of singing and hope to start using my synth more in live shows. I’ve currently been experimenting with a Roland SP-404, which I have been loving.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

(David) I would probably pick Frankenstein. You could take a soundtrack for Frankenstein anywhere. I don’t think a folky soundtrack would be out of place in an adaptation of it.

(Pippa) Are You Somebody? By Nuala O’Faolain. I am not sure what a Barnburner soundtrack would sound like, but it is just the most wonderful memoir by a treasured Irish writer. I would love to see her story adapted, and I feel like we could do it justice.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

Influences: Sybille Baier, Helena Deland, Alex G, Phoebe Bridgers, Adrianne Lenker, Dorian Concept, The Cranberries, Pinegrove, Fionn Regan, Sufjan Stevens, Lankum, Elliot Smith and John Francis Flynn.

We recommend Irish artists Aoife Wolfe, Ian Nyquist, Gurriers, Rory Sweeney, Madra Salach, Roisin Gowen, Elishka Lane, Rua Ri, Delivery Service and Burglar.

What makes Barnburner happy and what makes you unhappy?

(David) Live gigs make Barnburner happy. Seated gigs. In cosy venues with good sound setups. Writing songs makes Barnburner happy, and so do our friends. 🙂

(Pippa) All of the above! “