M(h)aol are the best-kept secret in the Irish post-punk scene. Once a quintet, they released their debut album Attachment Styles in 2023. Now a trio, they dropped their second record Something Soft on May 16, 2025, via Merge Records.
The band takes their name from the fiery Irish pirate Gráinne O’Malley—known as Mhaol (bald)—who famously cut her own hair after her father tried to stop her from joining a commercial expedition, claiming her long hair would get caught in the ship’s ropes. The current lineup features Constance Keane pulling double duty on drums and vocals, guitarist Seán Nolan, Jamie Hyland (also the album’s producer), and Sarah Deegan on bass.
Don’t get fooled by the title, Something Soft, has nothing soft about it. The album is packed with riffs and drum beats repeated to the point of obsession. M(h)aol pack everything up with gritty guitars and Keane’s commanding vocals driving it all forward.
The opening track, “Pursuit,” is built around a single riff, looping like the throb of a heart through an open wound. Over that driving pulse, you get square drum patterns with offbeat clunks and abrasive overdriven guitars. The vocals begin as a whisper, then erupt into a distorted climax of Keane screaming: “Is it you? Is it you? Is it you?”
“I Miss My Dog,” the second track— perhaps a nod to “Kim, the punk-type dog” from Attachment Styles—feels just as intense. Glitchy beats and Keane’s mantra-like repetition of “you should be here” hit a nerve anyone who’s lost a pet will understand.
With its mix of hypnotic riffs and pseudo-electronic beeps, “You Are Temporary, But the Internet Is Forever” takes a more ironic and existential turn. It digs into the weird permanence of our online lives, told from the eerie perspective of someone who’s already checked out. “E8/N16” isn’t exactly a pleasure for the ears—but that’s the point. Repetitive patterns are crucial to this album’s DNA, and this track is no exception. It kicks off with an obsessive guitar riff, minimal drumming, and choral vocals. Its 1:50 runtime of gritty noise makes it a perfect transition into “Vin Diesel” whose drier, hammering bassline shifts the mood with precision.
“Clementine” is expertly produced to sound like a waking nightmare. Distorted guitars clash against a dissonant choir that sings the song’s only stanza. The horror, though, is all too real, addressing the lack of autonomy and rights that many women—like Clementine— face.
The album also features “Snare,” a track born from Keane’s conversations around the gendering of objects like drum kits and the frustrations that come with it. A standout for me is “1-800-Call-Me”, which builds a hypnotic riff from the dial tones of an old landline, layered with abrasive guitars and noise.
Finally, “Coda” closes the album with a nearly instrumental four-minute track. Distorted vocals merge into an unsettling soundscape of looping wails and growls, leaving you with a sense of unease.
Something Soft sounds markedly different from Attachment Styles—and that shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering the departure of Roisin Nic Ghearailt and Zoë Greenway. The slower tempo and more macabre tone still align with the direction M(h)aol hinted at two years ago. They’ll be touring across Europe and the UK this summer and again in the autumn.