Vinyl Record

NewDad - Madra

NewDad - Madra on LP vinyl. A 2024 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

LP · 2024

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 2024 LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

Madra is the 2024 debut album by NewDad, the Galway band turning shoegaze inheritance into something cleaner, colder and emotionally direct. After a run of EPs and growing attention through the early 2020s, the album gives the group a full-length frame for Julie Dawson's calm, wounded vocal presence, Sean O'Dowd's guitar textures and a rhythm section that often lets the songs drift without losing their outline. The title, meaning dog in Irish, fits the record's mix of attachment, instinct and unease. Angel, Sickly Sweet, Where I Go, Let Go and Nosebleed move through distorted haze, indie-pop melody and the afterimage of 1990s guitar music, but Madra is not simply a revival exercise. It sounds like a young band making space for anxiety, desire and self-protection inside polished production and blurred edges. Released in January 2024, it also marks NewDad's move from promising Irish guitar act to album-level presence, with a debut that understands atmosphere as a way of sharpening feeling rather than hiding it.

Madra matters because it gave NewDad a defined 2024 album statement after several years of promise. It connects Irish indie guitar music to shoegaze and dream-pop textures while keeping the songwriting plain enough for the emotional unease to land directly.

For collectors, Madra is the first full-length NewDad title and the natural anchor for following the band's early catalogue. It suits shelves focused on 2020s indie, Irish guitar music and newer shoegaze-adjacent records with melodic restraint.

Modern shoegaze-leaning indie rock with blurred guitars, cool vocals, dream-pop melody, controlled drums, anxious lyric tone and production that keeps the haze polished rather than chaotic.

Recommended for: NewDad listeners moving from the EPs into the debut album; Collectors of 2020s Irish indie and shoegaze-adjacent guitar music; Fans of dream-pop tension with understated vocals and sharp hooks.

When was Madra released? Madra was released in January 2024 as NewDad's debut studio album. What does the title Madra mean? Madra means dog in Irish, a title that fits the album's themes of instinct, attachment and unease. Which songs introduce Madra well? Angel, Sickly Sweet, Where I Go, Let Go and Nosebleed show the album's blend of shoegaze texture and direct indie-pop writing.