Album Review- NewDad- MADRA

NewDad is one of my favorite bands in recent years. I first heard of the Irish band when Johnny Marr championed them in Uncut magazine. 

That Marr would like the band (and the band would listen to Marr) is pretty obvious. 

I do admit that I was a bit afraid to see if the band would survive that initial excitement. 2021s six song Waves EP was followed by 2022s five song Banshee EP but nothing came out in 2023 except three songs released to streaming. 

Reaction to the new debut album Madra is mixed at best and I am not quite certain why. Perhaps because the novelty is gone three years later (or the hype was too much to overcome). Perhaps the spot-the-influence shoegaze tinged dream pop that pulls from New Order and the Breeders doesn’t exactly turn the critics on. 

Madra may not be a perfect album and one could argue that changing out a few songs from the two EPs would make it a stronger debut, but I can’t imagine anyone who loves this kind of music would find any disappointment at all.