Junior Brother has unveiled a live video for New Road, the closing track of his third album The End, captured by filmmaker Myles O’Reilly — a name long familiar to readers of these pages.
The Co. Kerry singer-songwriter’s The End, released in September 2025 via Strap Originals, was KLOF Mag’s Artist of the Month at the time of release. Since then, it has earned a Choice Music Prize nomination and a place on KLOF Mag’s Albums of the Year 2025.
The album threads recent years of upheaval through the eerie folklore of Ireland’s Fairy Forts — ring-shaped earth mounds scattered across the countryside that, according to local lore, can bewilder, curse, or lead the unwary astray. Much of the source material came from UCD’s Folklore Collection on duchas.ie. “I delved into the manuscripts—endless eyewitness accounts of Fairy Forts being stepped into and the land altering, the familiar mutating,” Junior Brother explains. “Farmers, teachers, the sober, the smart—all losing their way home one way or the other.”
In his September review, Thomas Blake wrote of New Road:
“On The End’s stunning, atmospheric, glistening closing track, New Road, he takes us on a literal journey (one that perhaps takes us back to the fairy forts) and we can do nothing other than hang on his every word, words that slip from calm to fervid to agonised. It’s a journey we are willing to take again and again.”
O’Reilly’s intimate live capture is a fitting visual companion to that journey. Speaking to Blake at the time of the album’s release, Junior Brother reflected on the album’s title:
“One of the reasons the record is called ‘The End’ is because I really felt I had brought every aspect of my sound to a sort of limit point – however, though The End can mean the absolute limit of something, it can also signify a new beginning, after a period of darkness, confusion or pain.”
Watch the live video for New Road below.
Filmed and edited by Myles O’Reilly; Recorded and Mixed by Steven Rahaman.
Featuring:
Jack Duffy – Uileann Pipes
Phil Christie – Keyboards
Brendan Doherty – Drums
Tony McLoughlan – Mandolin
Junior Brother – Vocals, Keyboards
Read our full review of The End and in-depth interview with Junior Brother.
Live Dates
Tickets for all live shows can be found here
MAY
6 May – Ulster Sports Club, Belfast
7 May – Ulster Sports Club, Belfast
8 May – The Dock Theatre, Leitrim
15 May – Phil Grimes, Waterford
16 May – Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire
21 May – Mike the Pies, Listowel
22 May – Connollys, Leap, West Cork
JULY
24 July – Cody Dock, London Festival
25 July – The Earthship, Stanmer, Brighton Festival
AUGUST
7 August – Dranouter Festival, Belgium
22 August – Beautiful Days Festival, UK
23 August – Babyshambles support, Dublin Vicar St
24 August – Babyshambles support, Belfast
27 August – Greenbelt Festival, UK
SEPTEMBER
3 September – London eARTh Theatre, support for Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle
4 September – End Of The Road Festival
5 September – Moseley Festival
NOVEMBER
6 November – Edinburgh, Voodoo Rooms
7 November – Nottingham, Bodega
8 November – Liverpool, Kaiser Stockroom
10 November – Birmingham, Hare and Hounds 2
12 November – Guildford, The Star
13 November – Ipswich, Smokehouse
14 November – Ramsgate, Music Hall
18 November – St Albans, The Horn
19 November – London, Courtyard Studios
20 November – London, Courtyard Studios
21 November – Bristol, Louisiana
