Motion Masquerade

For Glynn’s Mixed Music Bag — Week 26 — I have chosen Kodaline. Kodaline is an alternative rock band (or quartet, depending on how you like to categorize things) based out of Dublin, Ireland.

Steve Garrigan (lead vocals and a myriad of instrumentals), Mark Prendergast (lead guitarist and keyboardist), and Vinny May (percussionist) have been playing in bands together since they were fourteen-years old. Their bassist, Jason Boland, joined the group in 2012.

Originally known as 21 Demands, the band made Irish Singles Chart history in 2007 when their independently-released single — “Give Me a Minute” — hit number one, becoming the first of its kind to do so. When they changed their sound in 2011, they changed the name of the band to Kodaline and gained international recognition with the release of their YouTube video for the single “All I Want.”

The band released their first studio album, In a Perfect World, in June of 2013. They have recorded three more LPs since: Coming Up for Air (2015), Politics of Living (2018), and One Day at a Time (2020). In 2022, Kodaline also released a live album, Our Roots Run Deep.

I have chosen the song “Brother” — which was the lead single from Politics of Living — released on June 23, 2017. I love the words of the song, which speak to the relationship between siblings (whether they are blood or not), especially those that might be lost. My favorite lyric is: Oh, brother we go deeper than the ink beneath the skin of our tattoos, because Cole and I were/are both tattooed, and I had a piece of his artwork placed on my right forearm after he died. The video also hits pretty hard for those of us who have lost someone we cherished and long to see again… if only for a moment.

You can listen to more of Kodaline’s music by visiting their YouTube channel or by downloading their music on your favorite streaming service.

“Brother” by Kodaline