ALTHOUGH January rain may be streaming down the windows as bitter gales howl through every crack and crevice in our humble, under-heated abodes (with the exception of cosy critters who availed of RHI, naturally), it's always wise to stay focused on any glimmer of light that might be on the horizon to help make the long slow trudge through winter that bit more bearable.
The open-air pleasures of summer music festivals seem very far away at the moment, but the folks at Co Down's SunflowerFest are already hard at work preparing this year's event at Tubby's Farm in Hillsborough, which will take place between July 28 and July 30.
The now well established family friendly festival have already announced this year's festival theme, 'a parallel universe', which will bring a space, science and sci-fi-inspired look to SunflowerFest 2017.
Currently in the running for the Irish Festival Awards 2016's Best Small Festival and Best Lineup gongs, SunflowerFest have also opened submissions for this summer's event – so if you want your band to join this year's line-up, or just fancy assisting with the running of festival itself, now is the time to get in touch via Sunflowerfest.co.uk.
To help get us in the mood, the festival organisers are putting on a special gig in Belfast next weekend at which Co Waterford dancepunk maniacs King Kong Company will be making their debut appearance north of the border at Belfast's Black Box on Saturday February 18 as part of the NI Science Festival.
Well, that was the plan anyway. However, as the show sold-out extra pronto, the Waterford city crew have since slipped an extra stop-off in Warrenpoint into their touring itinerary the night before.
Thus, Friday February 17 at Number Seven Duke Street's Skylite Room will now be the band's northern debut – tickets are probably well on the way to being totally wiped out as you're reading this.
This show offers an extra chance to enjoy KKC's psychedelic melting pot of bleeps, beats and samples bubbling away alongside infectious melodies and dubby/ danceable grooves, which has helped turn the monkey masked sextet into 'festival favourites' over the past few years.
Indeed, the likes of Donkey Jaw, SpaceHopper, Zoids and Scarity Dan (most available to sample via their website at KingKongCompany.com) are the kind of intriguingly trippy tunes you'd just have to investigate further if you happened hear them pounding out of a big tent while passing by.
Will KKC also be part of this year's SunflowerFest bill? The smart money would be on the answer being 'hell yeah', but you'll just have to stay tuned to Sunflowerfest.co.uk over the coming weeks to find out for sure.
Perhaps Co Fermanagh's Anto & The Echoes will also be appearing at Tubby's Farm this summer: the Belfast-based Anthony Breen-led sextet peddle an intriguing strain of epic power-popping pub rock – think 'new wave Meatloaf' – on their debut Youth EP.
Peppy opener Pick Me Up is an anthemic, piano-tinged boogie which builds up a good head of steam over four minutes, with Mr Breen really leaning into every sustained note in his pleasingly overwrought vocals.
He's also sweating bullets of sincere love and anxiety on stomping mid-life crisis break-up number Echoes before the EP climaxes with stand-out track Severed Ear – as catchy an impassioned, impressionist painter-inspired pop rock number as you're ever likely to hear.
"Girl, I could never paint a masterpiece like you: my colour palette is only black and blue," croons Breen to the object of his perhaps slightly creepy obsession.
Wisely, the band have selected this tune for a video treatment: see them getting colourfully messy down by the shipyard at Facebook.com/AntoAndTheEchoes – then see them in the flesh at The Top of The Town in Omagh tomorrow night, The Atlantic Lounge Portrush on February 10 and Dublin's Fibber Magee's on February 16.
The Youth EP is also available to stream/buy at AntoAndTheEchoes.bandcamp.com now.