Radie Peat is a singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for her work with the Irish folk band Lankum. She grew up in Dublin and performed in pubs at a young age, singing and playing concertina (she also plays tin whistle, accordion, harmonium, banjo and harp, among other instruments). With Lankum, Peat has recorded four albums including this year’s False Lankum, which was nominated for the Mercury prize. She’s also part of a new four-piece, ØXN, whose album CYRM – “a debut full of unsettling dark magic”, according to the Guardian – is out now on Claddagh Records. Lankum are on tour and will play London’s Roundhouse on 13 December.
1. Film
Mandy (dir Panos Cosmatos)
This is the last film I saw in the cinema where I was like: “Jesus Christ this is amazing.” It’s like a metal band on acid wrote a movie script with Nicolas Cage in it: disturbing and mad but also very funny. It was a repeat viewing at the Lighthouse cinema in Dublin and the rest of the audience had seen it before – everyone was roaring laughing and cheering at the screen. It was just really fun, which is odd because it’s also a really tense film. The first half sets up a couple’s life together and it’s weirdly enchanting. Then something really violent happens and it turns into an acid-fuelled gore rampage. I couldn’t get it out of my head.
2. Performance
Andy the Doorbum is an uncategorisable artist who flies under the radar but should be huge. He makes music, playing every instrument himself, but his live performances are more like theatre. He uses paint and lights and prosthetics and antlers – it’s like a pagan one-man show. He designs the artwork for his albums himself and even does artwork on his own clothing. We came across him in a squat in LA called Church of Fun, where he did an acoustic set, but it was only afterwards, looking him up online, that we got the full picture. He’s based in North Carolina but I would love to convince all the promoters in Ireland to book a tour for him.
3. TV
My daughter is completely obsessed with this show, and I’m actually fine with her watching it because it’s so lovely. It’s made in Ireland by Cartoon Saloon and all the characters have lovely, thick Derry accents. It’s about brother and sister puffins called Oona and Baba who live on Puffin Rock off the Irish coast. It celebrates nature and biodiversity and I’ve learned loads from it about birds and sea creatures. TV shows for kids can be so frantic, but this is very soothing and the storylines are really nice. There are little jokes in there for the parents as well.
4. Restaurant
Somebody booked this restaurant for me as a present. I’d never heard of it before but it was just fantastic. The food is absolutely amazing – all kinds of small plates using seasonal Irish ingredients. There was a cabbage dish that was really addictive, which is saying something because I don’t even like cabbage. There was delicious raw mackerel with a vinaigrette. And the cocktails are really good too. It’s more for special occasions – you’re not going to be eating there all the time – but if you want a really interesting food experience, I’d highly recommend it.
5. Tattoo artist
Skullduggery (Helen McDonnell)
Helen McDonnell was the first female tattoo artist in Ireland. She’s studied all over the world, including in Samoa, and she’s had a parlour in Belfast called Skullduggery for nearly 25 years. She’s tattooed me and both the Lynch brothers in Lankum and, honestly, pretty much everyone I know in Belfast and around Ireland. I’d prefer to keep my own tattoos private but Ian [Lynch] has a series of amazing Wicker Man tattoos, because he’s obsessed with that film. They’re really cool. Helen is so talented: she’s an amazing all-rounder.
6. Song
As soon as I listened to this song from the new album by [Dublin folk singer] John Francis Flynn, Look Over the Wall, See the Sky, it made me cry. (The previous piece of music that did that for me was Max Richter’s Sleep.) I think it’s his voice that got me. When he goes down low, singing in a very low register, it just sounds really emotional. It’s like he’s singing to himself and not for an audience at all. It got a very immediate response from me. The other song he released as a single, Mole in the Ground, is great in a totally different way. It’s really invigorating, whereas Kitty is like a big emotional slap.
