After a string of singles starting in January of this year, Irish rap trio Kneecap is out with their newest and perhaps most significant album yet, FENIAN. The release comes alongside a 12-minute short film for the album closer, “Irish Goodbye.”
To say the road between Kneecap’s last album, Fine Art, and FENIAN was smooth would be the biggest lie spoken in the modern music world. The group – comprised of Belfast and Derry natives Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí – has been roped into the spotlight for several controversies.
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Whether it’s having the severed statue head of King George V at a Melbourne show or Mo Chara facing a terror charge that a UK court dropped, Kneecap knows how to make the headlines. So when it comes to their music, it can be easy to forget that, yes, these Irish language truthers know how to make some of the most compelling hip-hop you’ll come across.
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From the opening, “Éire go Deo” starts the album on a meditative, almost drug-induced haze. Like previous material, the emphasis on the Irish language is a reflection of Kneecap’s priorities and cultural embrace. At the same time, the buzzing production easily moves between electronica and gospel-like chants as if the genres were placed on a seesaw.
It wouldn’t be a Kneecap album without a banger or two. “Smugglers & Scholars” functions both as a smooth drift with rapid-fire bars and an encapsulation of their aesthetic. The song is noticeably restrained, favoring a well-paced build-up that lets lines like “Calling mé sceimhleitheoir (me terrorist)” and “Getting guns with American dollars” breathe.
For a more familiarly intense track, “Headcase” takes full advantage of its breakbeat production that, despite the fast pace, never seems to catch any of the three members slipping in the slightest. If anything, their lyrics covering addiction are given an added punch thanks to the breakbeat rhythm.
However, where FENIAN succeeds is how it tackles tougher subjects overlooked in hip-hop and stances Kneecap are unwavering on. “Palestine” carries the same intensity as something like “Headcase,” albeit placing undeniably Irish opinions and feelings alongside an impassioned second verse from Palestinian rapper Fawzi. By placing both verses back-to-back, Kneecap creates a throughline between colonization of all shapes and sizes, no matter geography.
And then, there’s “Irish Goodbye” at the end of the album, featuring English spoken word performer and poet, Kae Tempest. The track arrived alongside a short film directed by Thomas James that tackles personal loss through a compelling narrative and features home video of Móglaí Bap and his family. About the song, Móglaí Bap shared, “Irish Goodbye is about the mundane things me and my Ma did together. I never realised it was the day to day stuff I would miss when she was gone; going for a walk in the park, her giving out to me or keeping me in line, offering me pieces of advice. It’s all the small things that you miss.”
The song itself builds on themes Móglaí Bap rapped about on 2020’s “MAM.” But while that song is directly about his late mother, “Irish Goodbye” deals with that aftermath, an especially gut-wrenching subject that comes from a place of sorrow and love, in large part because of the songwriting. The simplicity of saying, “It’s not an issue, I just want to say I missed you,” speaks to how Kneecap as a group has matured over the past few years.
“I had written a song about her before, called MAM, which came out in 2020,” shared Móglaí Bap. “She was sick at the time with depression. The idea I had in my head with MAM was, if I wrote it, she’d hear it, and maybe she’d feel her worth, because when you suffer from depression, you can’t see your own value.“
“At that time, we went for a walk, and I told her I had written a song for her, but that it wasn’t completely finished yet, so I’d wait until the next week to play it for her. But by then it was too late.“
“Suicide is hard. And when someone is sick with depression and dies by suicide, it’s hard to remember the good moments. You get caught up in the dark times.”
With FENIAN, Kneecap not only level up as songwriters. They level up as platforms for what they believe in, never mincing their words or sugarcoating. Alongside political stances, their most thought-provoking work comes out in full.
FENIAN by Kneecap is out on streaming services. For more on new music and tickets to upcoming shows, check out their website.
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Kneecap 2026 Tour Dates
EU/UK Dates
May 29-30 – AVA, Belfast, IE
Jun 6 – Primavera, Barcelona, ES
Jun 8 – Santana 27, Bilbao, ES
Jun 9 – La Riviera, Madrid, ES
Jun 11 – Primavera, Porto, PT
Jun 13 – Festi’Neuch, Neuchatel, FR
Jun 15 – Magnolia, Unaltrofestival, Milan, IT
Jun 16 – Sequoie Music Park, Bologna, IT
Jun 17 – Cavea, Auditorium Parco Della Musica Ennio Morricone, Rome IT
Jun 18 – Fiera del Levante, Bari, IT
Jun 20 – Terra Vibe Park, Rockwave, Attica, GR
Jun 24 – Allas Live, Helsinki, FIN
Jun 27 – Crystal Palace Park, London, UK
Jul 1 – Open’er Festival, Gdynia, PL
Jul 2 – Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, DK
Jul 4 – Rock Werchter, Werchter, BE
Jul 18 – PhilGood Festival, Plovdiv, BG
Jul 20 – KüçükÇiftlik Park, Istanbul, TR
Jul 30-Aug 2 – All Together Now, Waterford, IE
Aug 12-16 – Boomtown, Winchester, UK
Aug 28-30 – Reading & Leeds Festivals, UK
Nov 6 – Rockhal, Esch-Sur-Alzette, LU
Nov 9 – BK, Stockholm, SE
Nov 10 – Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, NO
Nov 20 – Le Zénith, Paris, FR
