Music

Rhythm Nation: Fiachra Treacy on his musical inspirations from the Cure and Joan Armatrading

Wicklow electro-pop band Columbia Mills’ third album will be released later this year. Here, lead singer Fiachra Treacy talks about the music that has influenced him over the years

Columbia Mills’ Fiachra Treacy (centre): says of the band’s new album Heart of a Nation, ‘for a lot of the tracks, I’ve put myself in other people’s shoes and tried to tie their experiences in with mine’

“There were pros and cons to writing our new album during the pandemic,” says Fiachra Treacy, lead singer of the Wicklow electro-pop band Columbia Mills.

“I rewrote the lyrics to all of the songs at least three times until I had washed them clean of any lockdown anxiety. I was always mindful that the album would be released when the pandemic was over. The last thing anyone would want to listen to then was me ...