Rosa Walton joins Mark Millar on the XS Noize Podcast to discuss her debut solo album, Tell Me It's A Dream, out now via Transgressive Records.

Best known as one half of Let's Eat Grandma alongside Jenny Hollingworth, Rosa steps into a bold new chapter with her most personal and expansive work to date — a record full of light, colour, open skies, friendship, dreams and emotional honesty.

In this conversation, Rosa talks about why Tell Me It's A Dream did not feel like a solo project made to prove a point, but rather a natural space to explore songs that did not quite fit inside Let's Eat Grandma.

She reflects on making music outside the band, developing a different vocal style, writing constantly, and how the album became a world of its own.

Rosa also discusses working with Sam E Yamaha, recording in Wales at StudiOwz, and co-producing the album with David Wrench, whose long creative relationship with Rosa helped make the process feel safe, open and freeing.

The conversation also explores songs including "Sorry Anyway," "Prettier Things," "Heart To Heartbreak" and "Halfway Round The World," as well as Jenny Hollingworth appearing as Jenny On Holiday on "Prettier Things."

Elsewhere, Rosa reflects on the huge life of "I Really Want To Stay At Your House" from Cyberpunk 2077, why the song's success felt disorientating, and how she separated that moment from the guitar-led world of Tell Me It's A Dream.

As Rosa says in the episode, if Tell Me It's A Dream was a place, it would be a vast, freeing, dreamlike landscape in the sky — with ice cream.

Listen to episode #290 of the XS Noize Podcast with Rosa Walton.

Belfast rock duo Dea Matrona join Mark Millar on the XS Noize Podcast to discuss their second album, Hate That I Care — a bold, more personal and self-assured new chapter for Mollie McGinn and Orláith Forsythe.

Written, recorded and produced entirely by the band, Hate That I Care finds Dea Matrona leaning further into alt-rock while exploring vulnerability, identity, pressure, friendship, self-production and the feeling of not fitting neatly into other people's expectations.

In this conversation, Mollie and Orláith look back on what they learned from their debut album, For Your Sins, how that record helped them understand who Dea Matrona were, and why Hate That I Care feels like the album where they are now telling people who they really are.

They discuss the title track, which Mollie describes as being written to herself, the exhaustion of masking emotions, and how the album became a way of processing difficult feelings through songwriting.

The conversation also explores "My Own Party" and the powerful line "always feeling like an outsider at my own party," the heavier emotional world of "John Doe," the deeply personal story behind "Aisling," and the moment "Magic Spell" helped unlock the direction of the record.

Mollie and Orláith also talk about producing the album themselves, writing and finishing music while on tour, their creative partnership, the early school-day rivalry that turned into a band, and how they continue to push each other as writers, musicians and producers.

They also reflect on Dea Matrona's journey from busking in Belfast to playing Reading and Leeds, Electric Picnic and Rock Werchter, touring with The Beaches, and preparing to join Sting on tour across Europe.

As Orláith says near the end of the conversation: "For Your Sins was introducing who we are, and Hate That I Care is telling you who we are."

Listen to episode #289 of the XS Noize Podcast with Dea Matrona.

Danny McNamara from Embrace joins Mark Millar on the XS Noize Podcast to discuss the band's new album Avalanche, 30 years of Embrace, and why he feels more inspired now than ever.

In this conversation, Danny reflects on the band's landmark debut The Good Will Out, the huge comeback with Out Of Nothing, and why new music — not nostalgia — is still what drives him.

Danny also talks about the life lesson running through Avalanche: life doesn't wait for you to be ready. He discusses marriage, fatherhood, learning to live in the moment, and how those changes have reshaped his songwriting.

Elsewhere, Danny opens up about songs including "Road To Nowhere," "Up In Your Feelings," "Pure O," "Get Out Of My Own Way" and "Coming Home," as well as his creative relationship with his brother Richard McNamara, the stories Embrace fans share with him, and why this chapter feels like a beginning rather than a look back.

Listen to episode #288 of the XS Noize Podcast with Danny McNamara from Embrace.