Acclaimed Belfast band announce split days before they're in Northern Ireland Music Award final - farewell show planned next month
Belfast band Blue Whale have said they’re to split up, just days before the group is due to find out if they win Northern Ireland’s best album at a prestigious awards show.
Critical darlings of the province’s music scene, the experimental rock outfit are one of the finalists for Album of the Year in the Northern Ireland Music Prize – competing against internationally-known names such as David Holmes and Kneecap.
They’re up against 12 other acts in the music prize ceremony, which takes place next week, and were also shortlisted in its Best Single and Best Video categories.
But Blue Whale are now to break up, with one last show planned for Belfast’s Accidental Theatre next month.
In a statement, the band said: “After 13 years, 71 performances, two EPs and two LPs, we’ve decided to call it a day.
"We’re sad to say goodbye, but it feels like the right time.
"As an act of farewell, Moving On Music will kindly be hosting us one last time at Accidental Theatre on December 7. Tickets will go on sale this Friday. Please be aware that this is a small venue and numbers are extremely limited. If you wanna come we’d advise booking early.”
Regular faces on Northern Ireland’s alternative music scene, Blue Whale’s blend of short-sharp-shock underground rock dynamics with moody textures and jazz-inflected time signatures earned them a dedicated live following and major respect from critics.
Debut album ‘Process’ was described by The Quietus as a “cunning triumph” and named Irish Album of the Year by culture website The Thin Air.
Andy Cairns, frontman of Northern Irish rock legends Therapy?, praised their sound, comparing them to free jazz pioneer Albert Ayler playing with a bunch of kids that grew up on records made by noise-rock mainstay Steve Albini.
In 2019, the band created the score to a movie, ‘High Rise/Low Rise’, which was created from archive footage of utopian and dystopian housing, geography and town planning from 20th century Northern Ireland.
Comprising guitarists Michael O’Halloran and Ben Behzadafshar, drummer John Macormac and bassist Andrew Melville, their latest and now final album, Last Immediate Images, was released in Spring this year.