Another Love Story music and arts festival takes place later this month, from 23 to 25 August at Killyon Manor in County Meath. 

First held in 2014, the festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary, presenting a programme of concerts, talks and film screenings that reflect the past decade and incorporate artists from previous years.

The festival was started by Festival Director Emmet Condon who, with his events company Homebeat, originally began hosting house concerts. ‘It was that time in Dublin where there was recession-era vibes … lots of different people were doing small things,’ said Condon, speaking to the Journal of Music. ‘Another Love Story has always been about doing things at a smaller scale, which allows a little bit more attention to detail and a little bit more of a personal feeling’. 

This year’s programme includes a mix of Irish and international artists, including folk singer John Francis Flynn whose second album Look Over the Wall, See the Sky was released last November; neo-soul artist Qbanaa, who is one of the 2FM Rising Acts for 2024; alt-folk band Poor Creature – comprising Cormac MacDiarmada of Lankum, Ruth Clinton of Landless, and John Dermody of The Jimmy Cake; and teenage blues singer and guitarist Muireann Bradley who featured on Jools’ Annual Hootenanny.

Irish-based Kurdish-Syrian musician Mohammad Syfkhan is also on the line-up, as well as German piano/electronic duo Grandbrothers, singer-songwriter David Kitt, the Glasshouse ensemble, rapper Sampa the Great, German electronic duo Modeselektor, Jape and Kíla. 

‘A thread that’s running through the festival this year is that we’re bringing back certain highlights from over the ten years of the festival. David Kitt is going to do a full band thing … Glasshouse will play Sufjan Stevens’ Come on Feel the Illinoise and that will be special.’

‘It would be totally remiss not to mention Eoin French and Talos today who played with us in 2016… and would have been a friend of the festival,’ said Condon on the death this week of musician Eoin French, who fronted the indie-electronic music project Talos.

Another Love Story is not a massive business, it’s not a huge corporation, so Irish acts have been very generous to stick with us as they’ve grown. And it’s been one of the great pleasures to see people like Eoin … and watch him go from a small platform like ALS to the world. That’s been incredible. He’ll definitely be remembered at the festival. 

Other Occurrences 
The festival will also host a series of talks, workshops, film screenings and other happenings throughout the weekend as part of its ‘Other Occurrences’ programme. There will be a partnership with the Baltimore Fiddle Fair – including performances from Aoife Ní Bhriain, Cormac McCarthy, the Kane Sisters and John Blake – and a music trail presented with Meath Arts Office, with music by dub act DJ Dub Aquatic, singer-songwriter Oisín Leech, and seven-piece indie band And he, the fool. 

The Middle Wood Summer School – a series of talks and events focused on sustainability – is a new addition to the festival this year and will present events in partnership with environmental organisation Hometree, social enterprise Common Knowledge, and Science Week.  

In the world we live in at the moment, there’s definitely a huge opportunity when you gather people together to at least start conversations … ALS has always intentionally been about the idea of not real escapism …  it’s not about denying the reality of the world, which festivals can sometimes be about … We’re just creating a softer space for people to be in for the time that they’re with us. The summer school is an attempt to encourage people to leave with a little extra in their heads and maybe something extra in their hearts.

For further programme details and tickets, visit https://anotherlovestory.ie.

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