I Have a Tribe’s Internet presence is ripe with ambiguity, almost annoyingly so. The biography provided by his booking agency is like a textual analog to a David Lynch movie, sporadic, evocative and more or less nonsensical. That aside, there are a few certainties — we do know that I Have a Tribe is the project of Irish musician Patrick O’Laoghaire and also that “Monsoon” is the only track released so far under the name.
“Monsoon” garnered several thousand plays on Soundcloud in just a few months and, as evident in the comment section, O’Laoghaire’s listeners have expressed quite a demand for more tunes. It’s not too surprising considering the song’s subtle, infectious nature. O’Laoghaire’s voice, which at times resembles Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear, fluctuates between a fragile falsetto and a more yearning howl. The track is a pleasant fusion of old-timey tricks (voice, airy piano) that give way to newer ones (electronic drums, synth bass in the track’s finale.
I Have a Tribe presents a soothing, intriguing sound and it’ll be interesting to see where O’Laoghaire takes the project next.