Jimmy Monaghan (Irish: Seamus Ó Muíneacháin) is an Irish musician from

Belmullet Belmullet (, IPA: �bʲeːlənˠˈwʊɾˠhəd̪ˠ is a coastal Gaeltacht town with a population of 1,019 on the Mullet Peninsula in the barony (Ireland), barony of Erris, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the commercial and cul ...

, Ireland. He is the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the

anti-folk Anti-folk (sometimes referred to as unfolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in response to the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. Anti-folk music was made to mock the perceived seriousness of the time's mainstream music scene, a ...

band Music for Dead Birds. He has also released music under different names including ''The Crytearions'' and Christian Bookshop.

Early life

Monaghan was born in

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

, and moved to Ireland at the age of six. He is of Irish and Italian descent. As a teenager he was an amateur

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

, winning four Irish national titles. He won a silver medal at the 2004 Four Nations tournament boxing for Ireland and received the

Western People The ''Western People'' is a weekly local newspaper published in Ballina, County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland. It was first published in 1883. The newspaper was part of the Thomas Crosbie Holdings group. Thomas Crosbie Holdings went into rec ...

Sports Star of the year award the same year. During his time representing Ireland internationally he fought against the German amateur boxer Gottlieb Weiss.

Music

His early musical influences were

Irish traditional music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there w ...

and

nu-metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal ...

. In 2007, Monaghan formed Music for Dead Birds with drummer Dónal Walsh in

Galway city Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city o ...

. One of the band's first gigs was a live performance on Anocht FM from the Roisin Dubh in August 2007. Their debut album, '' And then it rained for seven days'', was released in 2009 by the Irish record label

Rusted Rail Rusted Rail is an Irish independent record label that was started in 2006 by Keith Wallace. Rusted Rail have released albums by artists including Phantom Dog Beneath the Moon, United Bible Studies, The Declining Winter. Music for Dead Birds an ...

. This was followed in 2011 by the independently released '' The Pope's Sister'', a concept album about the influence of the

Catholic church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Ireland. In July 2012, Psychonavigation Records released his debut solo album Seamus O'Muineachain. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' reviewed the album positively, calling it "''a tremulous if tranquil success.''" To promote the album he performed at

The Electric Picnic Electric Picnic is an annual arts-and-music festival which has been staged since 2004 at Stradbally Hall in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland. It is organised by Pod Concerts and Festival Republic, who purchased the majority shareholding in ...

festival and

Whelan's Whelan's is a pub and music venue in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Profile Numerous international artists have played at the venue, including Jeff Buckley, Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party, Kate Nash, Townes Van Zandt, Damien Rice and Allen To ...

, Dublin. The song ''Shadowboxing'' from the album was put into rotation on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

and the song ''I Am Always in Your Power'' was used in the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominated series ''Beat Girl''. Throughout 2012 he released songs under the name Christian Bookshop, and played drums for the

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

based folk band Yawning Chasm. In 2017 he produced and released his second solo album ''

Cloves Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products, s ...

''. The track ''Forest Frost'' was released to radio and broadcast by An Taobh Tuathail. Shortly after its release, the album was ''

'' ''New Release of The Week'' and was later featured on

Star's End :''Star's End is also a 1974 album by British composer David Bedford and a 1982 novel by Glen Cook.'' ''Star's End'' is a weekly, five-hour-long new-age music radio show broadcast by 88.5 WXPN, the University of Pennsylvania's radio station, in ...

2017 end of year list. In 2019 he released the album ''City of Lakes'' while living in

Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

. In March 2020,

KEXP KEXP-FM (90.3 MHz) is a non-commercial radio station licensed to Seattle, Washington, United States, specializing in alternative and indie rock programmed by its disc jockeys for the Seattle metropolitan area. The station is owned by the non-p ...

and

KDHX KDHX (88.1 FM) is an independent, non-commercial, listener-supported community radio station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States offering a full spectrum of music along with cultural and public affairs programming since 1987. KDHX broadcas ...

premiered tracks from his fourth solo album '' Blue Moon Set''. The album received a positive review in ''

Rockerilla ''Rockerilla'' is a monthly Italy-based music and cinema magazine founded in 1978. It has collaborated with, among others, Richard Bertoncelli and Guido Chiesa. According to Federico Guglielmi, ''Rockerilla'' was followed by those most passionate ...

'' magazine and was featured on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

. Several music videos were created for the album, including a video for 'Slow Closing Day' by Irish experimental film-maker Maximilian Le Cain. His fifth album '' Different Time Zones'' was released in January 2022.

Dramatic work

In 2011 his

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

''Thumb'' was shortlisted for the

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

PJ O'Connor Award. In 2015 he appeared in a Maltese stage production of ''

Butterflies Are Free ''Butterflies Are Free'' is a 1972 American comedy-drama film based on the 1969 play by Leonard Gershe. The 1972 film was produced by M. J. Frankovich, released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Milton Katselas and adapted for the screen by Gers ...

'' which ran at

Saint James Cavalier Saint James Cavalier ( mt, Kavallier ta' San Ġakbu) is a 16th-century cavalier in Valletta, Malta, which was built by the Order of St John. It overlooks St James' Bastion, a large obtuse-angled bastion forming part of the Valletta Land Front. S ...

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

Personal life

In 2016 an image of him cycling on the

Aran Islands The Aran Islands ( ; gle, Oileáin Árann, ) or The Arans (''na hÁrainneacha'' ) are a group of three islands at the mouth of Galway Bay, off the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with a total area around . They constitute the histo ...

was used on an Irish

post stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

promoting the

Wild Atlantic Way The Wild Atlantic Way ( ga, Slí an Atlantaigh Fhiáin) is a tourism trail on the west coast, and on parts of the north and south coasts, of Ireland. The 2,500 km (1,553 mile) driving route passes through nine counties and three provinces, s ...

Discography

As Seamus O'Muineachain ''Albums'' * '' Seamus O'Muineachain'', 2012 * ''

'', 2017 * '' City of Lakes'', 2019 * '' Blue Moon Set'', 2020 * '' Different Time Zones'', 2022 * ''

Isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmu ...

'', 2022 ''EPs'' * ''Stamford, CT. Circa 1941'', 2014 * ''Blood Apple'', 2015 * ''Unnamed Cafe, Hoang Hoa Tham, 2018 * ''Sycamore EP'', 2021 With Music for Dead Birds ''Albums'' * '' And then it rained for seven days'', 2009,

* '' The Pope's Sister'', 2011 * ''

Vitamins A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrien ...

'', 2014 * ''Pagan Blessings'', 2018 ''EPs'' * ''Black Tides Falling'', 2010 * ''Your Brand New Life'', 2015 * ''Nail & Tooth EP'', 2017 ''Singles'' * "English Weed/What A Waste", 2015. * "Summer in Suburbia/Untied", 2020. As The Crytearions ''Albums'' * ''The Crytearions'', 2013, Dramacore * ''I See What It Is And I Am Scared'', 2013 * ''These Songs Hate You'', 2015 ''Compilations'' *''The Crytearions: Selected Recordings from the Album Trilogy'', 2016 Other * Christian Bookshop, Owl & Hat Records, 2012 * Spain, 2016 * Korea, 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monaghan, Jimmy 1988 births Living people Musicians from County Mayo Irish male singer-songwriters 21st-century Irish male singers Irish people of Italian descent