The team behind Art For Blind – a DIY record label and distributor based in Sligo, which has spent much of the past two decades putting out releases from some of the most thrilling and boundary-pushing artists on these shores and beyond – have announced that they're closing down the label.

In a statement shared on social media last night, Art For Blind announced the news – but noted that they would re-launch as Binder, with a focus on live events. Their last release as a label was Junk Drawer's The Dust Has Come To Stay EP, released in March.

Over the years they have also put out physical releases by Pretty Happy, PowPig, The Altered Hours, Wild Rocket, Alien She, i am the cosmos, Extravision, Ten Past Seven and more.

"Throughout the years the label has been a huge part of our lives," the Art For Blind team remark in their statement. "Working on the label has allowed us to travel, meet lots of interesting people and generally have a great time.

"Running a record label has become a lot more difficult over that time though and we have much less time to dedicate to releasing music than we would like. As a result we've decided that it's time to call it a day on the label and the Junk Drawer EP The Dust has Come to Stay will be our final release."

They go on to note that they've been increasingly concentrating on "bringing artists to perform live in Sligo" through their festival, Spilt Milk, and their work with The Model in Sligo

"...we will continue to pour our energy into that," they state, announcing their name change to Binder.

"Thanks to all the bands we've been lucky enough to work with over the last 18 years, all the people that have bought records, tees and supported the label in any way," they conclude. "Art For Blind means a lot to us and we feel very lucky to have been able to do it for so long."

We’re closing down our label. It’s been amazing and we’re not going anywhere xx pic.twitter.com/UErkY6AdsC

— Art For Blind (@artforblind) August 23, 2022

The Art For Blind Bandcamp page remains open for the foreseeable future. A "goodbye" t-shirt is also available to pre-order here.