Cliffords Review: The Ascent Continues for Beloved Cork Band
Rising stars of the Cork music scene Cliffords play an electrifying set at Dublin’s Grand Social.
The 5-piece indie pop band Cliffords have had incredible success in the last six months alone. Since the release of their debut EP Strawberry Scented in April, they’ve played numerous gigs around Ireland, London, and Manchester, and have been chosen by Dermot Kennedy to play at his Misneach festival in Sydney next March. On Tuesday, my friend and I make the trip up from Cork to see Cliffords play a headline gig in Dublin, as we’ve done twice already this year. This time, they play The Grand Social, supported by Dublin indie rock band Ten Hail Marys and fellow Cork band Pebbledash, who play a banger six-song set (and whose recent Cork headline gig I wrote about here). We arrive not long after doors open, but the room is already almost full. We make our way to the front of the crowd to watch Pebbledash, and after their set, everyone immediately moves forward, anticipating Cliffords’ arrival to the stage.
The band is comprised of lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist Iona Lynch, drummer Daniel Ryan, lead guitarist Harry Menton, keyboard player Locon O’Toole, and bassist and trumpet player Gavin Dawkins (known to all as Gav). As their line-up has developed over the past few years, so has their sound, and the impression they give tonight is one of a band in the midst of a transformation: they acknowledge where they started from, while appearing completely confident in who they are right now and looking ahead to further evolving as a group. And while it’s clear at this gig that they’ve gained a lot of new fans in the past few months (Iona tells the crowd, “We haven’t played Dublin that often, so seeing this many people here is actually scary”), they’ve retained their loyal Cork fanbase. Each time the band mention that they’re from Cork, they’re met with very loud cheers from the many Cork fans who’ve made the three-hour trip up to see them, even though Cliffords will headline their hometown venue Cyprus Avenue in a week and a half. Beloved Cork bar An Bróg, in particular, gets an enthusiastic response when Iona shouts it out as she introduces “If the Shoe Fits”. After another song, I hear a Cork lad behind me tell his friend that the DJ should play the song in Bróg.
Cliffords open with “Bittersweet”, bursting into their set with a catchy song that is sure to be a hit whenever they release a recording of it. They follow it with two songs off Strawberry Scented, “If the Shoe Fits” and “Second Skin”. Throughout the gig, the audience sings along to every song, especially the ones on the EP. “Shattered Glass” and “Feels Like a Man” are particular favourites, but some people sing along to the newer, unreleased songs “Bittersweet”, “Pretty Pain”, and even “My Favourite Monster”, the latter of which Iona introduces by saying “This is a new song. You might have heard it, you might not have”, the band only having debuted it in late July.
Cliffords’ performance of “Shattered Glass” is a transcendent moment at each of their gigs, and this one is no different. To me, it feels a bit like being in a different world for five minutes, with the way the room is so completely invested in this song. The audience sing along with every single one of Iona’s vivid, emotional lyrics, shouting the now-iconic line, “She speaks in strawberry-scented sentences / And oh my God, you should hear her laugh”, and even singing along to Gav’s trumpet part. Experiencing this song, it’s no wonder that Dermot Kennedy decided to bring them all the way to Australia - it’s the epitome of how deeply Cliffords connect with their audience.
The band follow “Shattered Glass” with “Pretty Pain”, a beloved song that has transformed drastically even from when they debuted it back at the end of June. I had the impulse to describe it as a fan favourite, considering the ecstatic reaction it receives from the crowd, but by that metric, you could call every Cliffords song a fan favourite. All of the song’s component parts - Iona’s stunning vocals and her clever, playful lyrics about wanting to steal a fellow songwriter’s diaries to learn from them (I really love “I’m gonna sneak up to your bedroom / Steal all the books that must feed you / Search for meaning in your margins / No, don’t run away / You’ve got such pretty pain”), Dan’s impressive syncopated beat, Locon’s catchy synth motif, Harry’s incredible solo at the end of the song, and Gav elevating the song with his basslines, while also garnering cheers from the audience as he sings back and forth with Iona in a call-and-answer section at the end of the bridge - combine to create a perfect pop song. It even has an Easter egg for the Cork fans in the room - it contains the line, “I hear Chippy loves ya”, in a reference to the infamous graffiti tag littering Cork. This shoutout thrills the Cork people standing behind me, who repeat it back to themselves in delight.
After “Pretty Pain”, Iona announces that this is the penultimate time they’ll play their first two singles, “Antihero” and “Lycaphobia”. The audience is disappointed, but you can understand why Cliffords would want to concentrate on performing their newer material, especially as their fanbase grows. They may be phasing out these old songs, but just from the audience reaction to hearing them, you’d never expect them to - people scream along with the lyrics, giving their all as both they and Cliffords say goodbye to these beloved songs. During “Antihero”, someone behind me says, “I love this song”, and their friend replies, “As you should.”
Next up is “My Favourite Monster”, which like “Pretty Pain”, is a beautiful song with a unique subject matter; Iona has previously described it as “a love letter to my enemy” (the line “We could’ve been friends, just kids on a playground / Where I’d steal your ball and you’d kick me around” is a favourite of mine). And like “Pretty Pain”, it features a great guitar solo from Harry. As with “Bittersweet”, you can see that it’ll connect with its audience once it’s released as a recording.
A lot may have changed for Cliffords in the past year, but it’s nice to see that one key part of their shows has remained: when she introduces the band, Iona introduces Gav last, and he gets the loudest cheer (the trumpet is irresistible to this, and honestly, every crowd). Similarly, while it seems like most people here have already seen Cliffords before - the others up at the front of the crowd with me have certainly been to many of their gigs - it’s no less of a novelty when Gav breaks out the trumpet. It’s even a novelty throughout the set; every time he picks it up, the audience lose their minds.
Cliffords close their set with two fantastic songs that will undoubtedly be familiar to anyone in the crowd who has encountered the band before: “Feels Like a Man” and “Sleeping with Ghosts”. Like with “Shattered Glass”, a good number of the audience know every word to both of these songs, which is lovely to hear. I notice several people take out their phones as the band reach the second chorus of “Feels Like a Man”, and I think to myself that they’re clearly Cliffords connoisseurs - they know that Iona is about to amaze the entire room as she belts out the chorus, as she does at every gig, but it’s no less impressive no matter how many times you’ve heard her do it. “Sleeping with Ghosts” is the lead single from Strawberry Scented and the perfect song to end the gig on; it’s a high-energy song that gets everyone singing and dancing and leaves us (or me, anyway) feeling like we’ve all experienced something special together.
It speaks to how prolific and talented Cliffords are at songwriting that my friend and I discuss on the way to the gig the songs we haven’t heard in a while that we hope they’ll play (“R&H Hall”, “Nightcrawler”, “Morning Routine”), and while we hear none of those songs, the 50-minute set they do play is very strong. We (and, it seems, everyone else in the room) love every single song. I think that some of the highest praise I can give the band is to say that each member is utterly essential; I can’t imagine what it would be like if someone else was filling in for any of them at a gig.
Cliffords may have a room full of people singing so many of their lyrics back at them but it’s clear they’re not taking any of it for granted. Iona thanks everyone for coming at several points throughout the gig, and you get the sense that the band are just as delighted to be there as the audience are. They’re now on the cusp of becoming intercontinental superstars, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving.