Interview DIY Class of 2026: Cliffords

Watching social media footage of Cliffords’ recent homecoming - a triumphant affair in front of a sold out Cork City Hall - it’s difficult to believe that the band’s entire recorded oeuvre still only amounts to around a dozen songs. In their hometown on the West coast of Ireland, they’ve already achieved the status of cult heroes, something vocalist Iona Lynch sounds as if she can barely believe. “That audience was full of people who’ve backed us from the very start, which is such a lovely thing. We’re already at a point where there’s bands who inspired us when we first started out who aren’t around any more, so we feel very, very lucky to have that backing. It’s a special place.”

It’s understandably tempting for tastemakers to look to Ireland for the next big thing, especially at the end of a year where so much of the cultural conversation has been dominated by the likes of Fontaines DC, CMAT and Kneecap, while the the likes of Class of 2026 members Florence Road, Cardinals and Cliffords themselves are beginning to break through. This four-piece, though, have been working out their own sound away from industry pressures since 2020, which perhaps explains why their first two EPs arrived sounding so fully-formed; last year’s ‘Strawberry Scented’ fizzed with a melodic vibrancy that was maintained on May’s follow-up, ‘Salt of the Lee’. The latter release also saw Iona begin to seriously carve out her own identity as a pithy, thoughtful lyricist.

She and the band - Iona’s backed by bassist and trumpeter Gav Dawkins, guitarist Harry Menton and keyboardist Locon O’Toole - are eager to maintain what is fast becoming a rich vein of songwriting form as they head into next year; when DIY catches up with her, she’s on her way across London for a session that, she hopes, will bear fruit to count towards the group’s debut album - more on which later. For now, they’ve already teed up what should be a huge 2026 with single ‘Marsh’, which was released last month. It indicates stormier territory ahead for Cliffords, both sonically and thematically - the track digs into the mire of seasonal depression in murky, atmospheric fashion.

“We wrote that in January of last year, so to us, it feels like it’s lived about four different lives already,” Iona says. “It’s changed so many times, and I think we’re constantly trying to do things differently. I do think the way it turned out is representative of the direction we’re going in, though.”

It doesn’t mark the first time that they’ve switched things up between releases, either; reflecting on them now, Iona sees marked differences between their two EPs. “‘Strawberry Scented’ was written years ago, and was very much about our teenage years, so it was easy to move on from. It wasn’t something we ever thought people would care about, or listen to. So, ‘Salt of the Lee’ came with its own pressure, because we sort of knew people would hear it, but I definitely don’t think we let that get to us. The songs were about a very specific time, our last couple of years at college, and those times were so vivid that the songs came naturally; it was kind of easy to put it in a time capsule, and now we’re going to move on from that.”