Mayo band to return with new single following hiatus

Mayo alternative folk band Doppler are making their long-awaited return after a three-year hiatus.  Doppler formed back in 2015. The group is best known for their strong vocal harmonies, fiddle-prominent sound, Irish chart success, and sharing the stage with renowned performers.

The band return with their new single ‘Fiona’, a yearning pop song about desire and obsession on the surface, but underneath, a song about…. Covid.

The band’s three-year break was not by choice, as Jamie Mulrooney, vocalist/ guitarist, explained.

“We’ve been away for 3 years because of life and death. Both our fathers passed away in 2023 and between Kevin, Mick and myself we’ve had 7 children born since then, so things have been eventful in lots of ways,” he said.

“Highs and lows. In the back of our minds we still feel this connection to each other and our friendship and our purpose which is to make music together no matter what. We just had to press pause and that’s necessary sometimes’.

Doppler’s new single ‘Fiona’ is framed like a love song; its lyrics, ‘You spread your love, I find it hard to breathe / I try to keep my distance / You mask every emotion / Let's stay at home’, take on a different meaning once you know.

Mick Dempsey, vocalist/ guitarist, expresses how; “we like to have little hidden meanings in songs to see if anybody notices them, but mostly for ourselves. Nobody wants to hear about Covid. Me included. It’s too recent in our collective memory, so if we openly said that nobody would listen to it.”

The single is set to release Tuesday, September 29th, on all streaming platforms. The band has created a 70s cop drama spoof video as their music video, the preview now available on YouTube. The pair work as a crime-fighting duo against the sinister forces of ‘Fiona’. A local low-level drug dealer on the west coast of Ireland in the late 1980s.

Now that they are all fully reconnected, the band is gearing up for a return to the stage as they roll out their next three singles over the coming months, with live dates to be announced.

Doppler's previous singles ‘Wait A Long Time For You’, ‘About You’, and ‘It’s Your Fault Too’ were all on heavy rotation on Irish radio. They made RTÉ Radio 1’s Recommend List for several weeks and were consistently in the Top 5 of the Monthly Airplay charts throughout 2020-2023.

Doppler played a sold-out Ballina Arts Centre alongside The Waterboys’ legendary fiddle player Steve Wickham in recent months, as well as playing support for The Stunning and Alabama 3’s Irish tour.

Doppler have made huge successes as they continue to share the stage with the likes of The Saw Doctors, Neil Hannon, Cathy Davey, The Waterboys’ Steve Wickham, The Blizzards, Gavin James, Alabama 3, The Stunning, and have also performed with Oasis’ cult member Bonehead on several occasions. They are also proudly the winners of the IMRO Clancy Brothers Song Contest.

Fans are extremely excited to welcome this extraordinary local band back to the stages of Mayo, just like they never left. Support the band on Facebook, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, @dopplerireland.