Therapy Horse Release Their Hotly-Anticipated Second Single
By Following Their Debut ‘Let Me Be Clear’, Therapy Horse Release Their Hotly-Anticipated Second Single
‘LOVE / MERCY’
Releasing September 26th
“[LET ME BE CLEAR is…] a debut that carves their name into the experimental alt rock space […] their talent for high-energy live performance shines through […] raw vocals and heavy bass drive the track, with searing guitar lines and intense drums to back it up […] harsh, authentic and severe.” Riccardo Dwyer, Hot Press Magazine
“… what you might describe as a wonderful noise.” – Dan Hegarty, The Alternative, RTÉ 2FM
“Packing noise and empathy in equal measure […] sheets of distortion and [a] gripping sense of catharsis.” – Mike McGrath Bryan, The Evening Echo
“[…] No-gaze trio Therapy Horse are quickly establishing themselves as one of the most promising of the new wave of “quiet-loud-scary” bands haunting venues up and down Ireland”. – Elle O’Leary Kelleher, Ellevenses
“Their set is best described as a soundscape of electricity, with a ‘kick you in the face’ attitude.” – Bronagh Bracken, Banjaxed Media
Following their explosive debut single ‘LET ME BE CLEAR’, which received support from Hot Press, Genuine Irish and Post-Burnout as well as RTÉ 2FM, RED FM and Flirt FM, Cork/Limerick no-gaze trio Therapy Horse continue to capitalise on this momentum with ‘LOVE / MERCY’.
Haunting harmonies and dual lead vocals ride atop the squalls of distortion, with the lyrics – reckoning with themes of desperation and self-annihilation in the context of relationships – matching the doom-laden basslines and spare rhythms. Worthy of the excitement surrounding their incendiary live shows as well as their debut single, Therapy Horse mine a rich vein of emotion in this atmospheric new track.
Emily Dollery (vocals/bass) says, “The lyrics draw upon a range of non-musical influences, interweaving references to the poem “Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath with Gothic imagery. I wanted to juxtapose images evoking passivity and femininity – “I move soft and slowly” “Take my blood, take my breath / Put your hand to my dress” – against more foreboding, animalistic ones – “I curl up at your feet”. Our writing approach is often very jam-based; Cormac and I tend to improvise lyrics in a stream-of-consciousness manner during sessions, and I wrote my masters thesis on Gothic literature, so the lyrics that do spill out often tend to draw from that vocabulary. I was particularly interested in Machen’s The Great God Pan, which is about a beautiful demigod born of a botched experiment who seduces and destroys men, and how her characterisation mirrors medical notes on female hysteria. In the same way, I wanted to balance the sensual with the disturbing, and have the ines expressing sacrifice – “I could never change you / All I give and I get?” contrasting the anger with which they are delivered.”
“LOVE / MERCY was the first song Emily [Dollery, bass/vocals] and I wrote together when Therapy Horse began to coalesce,” notes Cormac Donovan O’Neill (guitars/vocals). “The project has since gotten much louder and angrier, but this song means a great deal to us, and juxtaposes the full-on barrage of ‘LET ME BE CLEAR’. We all adore artists who embrace a keen sense of dynamics to go along with the all-consuming noise. Musically, LOVE / MERCY sits in that lineage, the sparse drums and bass in the verses contrasting the escalating fury of the choruses, the sonic and lyrical narrative of the song falling away to almost nothing before roaring to its conclusion,” says Cormac Donovan O’Neill (vocals/guitar) of the song. “There’s an incredible heritage of Irish noise-rock and shoegaze bands who marry pulverising volumes with the economical use of space, like Just Mustard and Elastic Sleep. Like those bands, ‘LOVE / MERCY’s’ reverb-drenched guitar lines and lances of feedback erupt out of the song’s miasmic atmosphere.”
Of the recording process, Donovan O’Neill notes that “working with Andy Killian (Pebbledash, I Dreamed I Dream, Flywheel) on this song in the same marathon studio session as ‘Let Me Be Clear’, we were especially excited to capture the antiphonal vocals between Emily and I. To underscore the emotional content of the lyrics, as well as reproduce the exertion and catharsis of our live shows, we recorded vocals very last, with our voices appropriately strained. The disinhibition required for the final lines of the song I sing was really something I had to ease into in a studio context, but it was vital to do the song justice.”
Featuring members from well-known Irish shoegaze band Pebbledash, Therapy Horse marshal a gamut of influences including Lingua Ignota, Wednesday, Mogwai and Slint, as well as Irish acts such as Percolator and Elastic Sleep, into an exorcistic wall of sound. ‘LET ME BE CLEAR’ embodies the whirlwind excitement of the bands’ live shows, which have cultivated considerable excitement through hard-gigging in venues across Ireland, including Cork’s Dali and Fred Zeppelin’s, Dublin’s Whelan’s, and Limerick’s Record Room. With this accomplished single, Therapy Horse make a definitive statement establishing their promise as one of Ireland’s most exhilarating names-on-the-rise.
Upcoming Gigs
02.10.25- Dolan’s w/ Mother of Pearl and Gag Reflex
02.10.25- The Kino w/ Skinner
16.10.25- Dolan’s w/ The Low Field
20.11.25- Grand Social Ballroom w/ SLYRIDES
14.01.26- Grand Social Ballroom, ISSUE showcase
More TBA