Live Report: Somebody's Child, Tebi Rex, and more at Lost Lane for Ireland Music Week

The Friday night lineup at Lost Lane was arguably the strongest of the weekend, with the likes of numerous rising Irish acts – Somebody's Child, Tebi Rex, Kynsy, Kitt Philippa, True Tides, and ELM – gracing the stage for an incredible night celebrating homegrown talent.

Somebody's Child

Opening the night was Hot Press favourite Somebody's Child. The indie-pop singer had a jam-packed summer festival season with noteworthy sets at major festivals like Indiependence and Electric Picnic. With a full schedule, they've had some time to make their already-infectious set even better. The band has taken noticeable strides to grow into their stage presence – lead singer Cian Godfrey even cracked a smile at one point during the set.

The packed crowd – the largest of the night by my visual estimate – was really digging into the pulsing beats of hit song, 'Make You Alright', the impossibly catchy 'oh's' in 'Distance', and the groovy guitar lines in 'Jungle'. It takes some real restraint on the part of Somebody's Child to not bop around with the crowd to the whole set. But, rest assured once they fully grow into their stage presence, these guys will be unstoppable.

Tebi Rex

Perhaps the chant incited numerous times by the self-declared No. 1 mixed race hip hop duo from Kildare can best illustrate the energy and attitude they commanded while on stage:

"When I say 'Tebi', you say 'Rex!'"

"Tebi!"

"Rex!"

"Tebi!"

"Rex!"

"When I say 'fuck my', you say 'ex!'"

"Fuck my!"

"Ex!"

"Fuck my!"

"Ex!"

It's that kind of hubris that filled the room and led Tebi Rex through a victorious set. "We might fuck it up, but eh," said Max Zanga, admitting that this was the first time they would perform a number of the songs off their debut album, The Young Will Eat The Old. Opening with 'Robbin Szn', the lads had the floor shaking with the throb of the bass (and perhaps because they were jumping so much, as well). And of course, they closed the set out with their hit, 'Men Are Trash', to which someone in the crowd yelled out, "This is so tropical!" with a shimmy. The set truly had a song for everyone, with the lads covering a full range of genres and never ceasing in energy.

Kynsy

Kynsy has maintained a low profile lately, with a nearly untraceable online presence and no streaming content. That will be hard to maintain if she keeps putting on performances like this – seriously, the song presumably called 'Saturday' would rack up 1,000 streams in a day just from me. Kynsy's voice lies somewhere between the unique rasp of Tash Sultana and the unmistakable spunk of Whenyoung's Aoife Powers, and odd as that may seem, it's brilliant. Despite technical difficulties with feedback in the beginning, and a few songs where the mic was too soft to enjoy Kynsy's vocals, the band kept the audience fully tuned in for their set. The cool girl vibes were radiant, but she came back down to earth at the end of the set, spelling out her name which was clearly emblazoned behind her on the screen, and asking people to follow her on Instagram.

Kitt Philippa

I could watch Kitt Philippa perform a million times and still become entranced with their stunning live sets every single time. And of course, after a brilliant summer playing festivals across the island at KnockanStockan, All Together Now, and Electric Picnic, Kitt Philippa struck again with haunting vocals and soothing piano melodies.

Silence devoured the every corner of Lost Lane from the moment the first note of the piano struck straight through to the last. The loyal audience was sure to shush anybody who dared whisper while they played fan favourites like 'You' and 'Human' as well as their latest track, 'Farenheit'. The showstopper, though, came halfway through the set when the band faded to the sidelines and Philippa did a solo rendition of 'When The Party's Over' by Billie Eilish. I never would have expected a Kitt Philippa-Billie Eilish combo, but that really needs to happen after hearing the magic they brought to the track.

True Tides

In a complete 180, True Tides took the stage and transformed Lost Lane from the silent intimacy of the last set into a full-on Friday night dance floor. Now a few drinks in, the crowd shamelessly popped, locked, and bopped along to the brothers MacSweeny. The funky guitar part in 'The Answer' really took the room to new heights. And meanwhile, the audience reciprocated every ounce of energy the lads had on stage and lit the floor up as they danced along to bouncy renditions of the band's calling cards: 'Higher' and 'Automatic', to close out the set.

ELM

Take note: all bands should have a cellist. ELM got the memo early on and perfectly integrated the unique addition into their queer-pop formula. Don't believe it's possible? Take a listen to their hit single, 'Fear', which features a catchy string melody and vocals that warm your soul. The result is the kind of music that makes you close your eyes, smile, tilt your head towards the heavens, and nod to the beat – the perfect kind of music to close out the night.

Flanked in the same iconic black dungarees and red tshirt as Electric Picnic, frontman Dylan Walsh brought the same infectious smile and energy to the Lost Lane stage. There could not have been a single person that left that night anything short of satisfied.