‘do you miss her’ is a collaborative track by banríon, an alt-rock band on Dublin’s DIY scene, and qwasi, Dublin-based artist Eric Fitzgerald, co-owner of Bad Soup Records and host of the Bad Soup Show on Dublin Digital Radio. It was released on Bad Soup Records on June 4 2021, with qwasi behind the instrumental and banríon behind the lyricism.
This is banríon’s first release as a solo project since the band’s release of the indie rock EP ‘airport dads’ last summer. ‘do you miss her’ indicates a new direction for her work, taking on queer lyricism and dreampop tones.
‘do you miss her’ features samples from the revolutionary Nell McCafferty. “She’s a queer revolutionary; she’s involved in the peace process in Derry, she was part of the Contraceptive Train down from Belfast to Dublin, a really pivotal figure in history”, says banríon.
Born and raised in Derry, McCafferty is a journalist and a founding member of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement. In 1971, she travelled to Belfast with other members of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement, protesting the prohibition of the importation and sale of contraceptives in the Republic of Ireland, which became known as the Contraceptive Train.
After the deconstruction of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement, McCafferty remained active in other women’s rights groups, as well as focusing her journalism on women’s rights and activism. Her most noteworthy journalism is her coverage of the Kerry Babies case, which is recorded in her book, ‘A Woman to Blame’.
McCafferty had a 15 year relationship with another writer, Nuala O’Faolain, who died from metastatic cancer in 2008. It was one of the most prominent, high profile, female same-sex relationships of its time.
“I was listening to a radio show of her last year, and the interviewer was just so voyeuristic about the questions he was asking. She’s had this amazing life, has done so much and he was just prodding about her dead ex-girlfriend.”
This journalistic prodding is the root of Ní Haicéid’s lyricism, “would you be asking me if I was a man to wear my heart on my sleeve.”
All proceeds for the track will go to BeLongTo Youth Services, Ireland’s national support organisations for LGBTQ+ young people.
Support ‘do you miss her’ on Bandcamp here.
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