Bricknasty: Dublin's Genre-Blur Collective Goes for the Hooks

There are bands that wear their eclecticism like a badge, and then there's Bricknasty, the Dublin five-piece for whom genre never really existed in the first place. On their new EP forever — seven tracks out November 6 via Jorja Smith's FAMM imprint — the collective does something unexpected: they simplify. "Before, we made it rocket science, but it's not rocket science," says frontman and guitarist Fatboy. "It's easy – just nice riffs, nice parts…"

From Ballymun to the big rooms

Bricknasty started the way a lot of the best internet-era bands do: Fatboy and producer Cillian McCauley met by chance on SoundCloud, and the online chemistry grew into a full band with Dara Abdurahman (bass), Korey Thomas (drums) and Louis Younge (sax/keys). Fatboy grew up in Dublin's Ballymun estate, and the collective's sound has always been rooted in community and the cross-pollinating chaos of being raised by the internet.

Their 2025 project BLACKS LAW — an AIM Award nominee that drew praise from Rolling Stone UK, Dazed, The Observer and CRACK — confronted faith, addiction and political disillusionment head-on. What followed was an explosive growth spurt: two North American tours, festival slots at All Points East, Way Out West and Forbidden Fruit, and shared stages with Coldplay at Croke Park, Nas, Kneecap, Ezra Collective and André 3000. KALTBLUT notes that the experience directly transformed their creative process, inspiring "a record engineered to move crowds instantly." forever was written and completed in just a few weeks — and it sounds like it, in the best way.

What they sound like

This is the most direct, hook-driven music Bricknasty have made, pulling from dance, contemporary R&B, trad folk, jazz and hip hop with bigger choruses and sharper crescendos — without sanding off their experimental edges. Lead single "the dom perignons" is the mission statement: sweeping strings over early-2000s R&B and hip hop textures, shimmering synths underneath, pure bubbly melody. Think D'Angelo's churchy soul colliding with Timbaland's elastic groove science and the left-field looseness of MF Doom — sticky falsettos, slurred rap delivery and anything else that takes their fancy.

Start here

Begin with "the dom perignons" — the pop-adjacent entry point that proves complication and hooks aren't enemies. Then go backwards into the summer singles "bobinov" and "honey bee" for the woozy side of the record, and run the full seven-track sequence when it lands: opener "forever," "lost my words," the singles, "G unit" (featuring singer-songwriter Dove Ellis, the EP's only guest) and closer "bring your gun to town."

Where to follow

• Instagram: @bricknxsty
• Official site: bricknasty.ie
• Watch the "the dom perignons" video: YouTube
• Pre-save forever: famm.orcd.co/forever