Great buzz at The Everyman for ØXN

Excitement was in the air on Thursday night at the Everyman. Right at the outset of the Jazz Weekend, revellers in attendance were abuzz with chat about the weekend's proceedings, swapping upcoming highlights and taking stock of a busy few days ahead.

But in the splendour of the venue's hall, anticipation of another sort awaited the members of ØXN (pronounced 'oxen'), as they took the stage for their first-ever gig under the name, following the band's beginnings as a collaboration between Lankum singer/musician Radie Peat and singer/musician Katie Kim being witnessed at Cork's Quiet Lights festival in 2018.

Accompanied as a going concern by the rhythm section of Waterford-originating kosmiche outfit Percolator - Eleanor Myler on drums and vocals, and super-producer John 'Spud' Murphy on bass and low-end, the band openly admit to being a little phased by the occasion on stage inbetween songs, and while there's element of a work in progress to the affair, there's no doubt as to the magic they're summoning.

Debut album 'CYRM' releases today [Friday] on Claddagh Records, and its six long-form songs are mined for the bulk of the set - a bracing 'Love Henry' loses little for the transition to stage, while the band's motorik-inflected take on 'Cruel Mother' is a moment of focus, with Peat and Kim's vocal harmonies being given room to realise their intent.

Meanwhile, in other album takes, the highlight of the night arguably lies in their interpretation of Galway songwriter Maija Sofia's 'The Wife of Michael Cleary', a contemporary tune about the last witch-burning in Ireland, that's braced to the band's sonic panorama - three-part harmonies, that see the vocals of drummer Myler placed in sharper focus than on record, serving to intensify the entire experience.

Scott Walker's 'Farmer in the City' provides a shuddering halt to the first half of a set bisected by an interval, and the gig finishes on an apocalyptic take on Applachian folk standard 'O Death' - while Kim's own solo work is also reinterpreted in parts, including album-featuring 'The Feast'.

Throughout, while Peat and Kim's vocal harmonies are front and centre, and Peat in particular seemingly summons her vocal power from the Earth's core itself, another, intriguing sonic story is in Myler and Murphy's interplay, and the way the latter's mastery of low-end resonates in the venue - all factoring into creating an authoritative presence on the historic stage.

Not that 'tis all high dudgeon or seriousness either, mind - the 'winging it' element comes to jovial focus in a tune that Peat assures the crowd is '40% a joke' - a rendition of US pop star Billie Eilish's 'Happier than Ever' still clearly being in the works, but carried across the line by Peat and Kim's enthusiasm for the tune, and pockmarked by laughter shared among the band in the process.

The Lankum comparisons will be inevitable, such is the case when a generational vocalist like Peat explores new territory, aided by Murphy, Lankum's producer and a touchstone of their sound to date.

But as Lankum continue their collective journey into the pages of Ireland's musical history as radical re-inventors of the tradition, one can see ØXN taking on its own life, as a mirror to other aspects of the artists' own musical lives, and as a place for its own set of musical and interpersonal dynamics to live, develop and bring forth further experimentation.