Kristen Sinclair

Edited by Birdy Francis The first dream I can remember having was a nightmare. I was confronted with a massively oversized skeletal spider, nearly half the size of my five year-old self, crawling slowly towards me in my bed. It was made entirely of bluish jagged bones and was eerily contorted as it crept along the duvet sheets. I woke up bolt upright in bed to my parents trying to quieten my screams. From then on, any bad dream I had was called a ‘jaggy spider’, and the term has stuck with me to this day. Whilst my life so far has been peppered with countless colourful and vivid dreams, with jaggy spiders few and far between, that specific one has made the most significant impression on me. I used to believe lots of strange things could prevent having a jaggy spider, like not eating cheese or Wagon Wheel biscuits before bed.   Much like I don’t know if there’s any truth in my remedies for bad dreams, scientists don’t know for certain why we dream either. There is a lot of ...

This review originally appeared in the now-defunct GiggingNI in 2018. Launching his new EP all round the light said :, County Down troubadour Joshua Burnside returns for his second headline gig at The Empire, Belfast. Joined by local veterans Lambing Season and the newly-signed Brash Isaac , Burnside proves unrivalled in his craft and cements himself as a champion of the NI music scene. An ample crowd is already gathered before the first act even take to the stage, in what might be south Belfast’s only properly air-conditioned venue (and in 22°C+ heat, there’s only so much a cold beer can do). Lambing Season , an experimental folk group, are back for their first gig in years. Squeezed onto The Empire’s tiny stage, the seven-piece create brass-heavy, folk-infused soft rock vaguely reminiscent of Arcade Fire. The band is fronted by multi-instrumentalist Gerry McCrudden who gives direction to his bandmates’ atmospheric harmonies and very talented trumpet playing. It’s easy...