Kormac

Few Irish producers move as easily between a turntable and a string section as Cormac O'Halloran, the Dublin composer who works as DJ Kormac. His starting point was hip-hop, scratching records and building beats on an MPC, before a growing interest in sampling and acoustic sound pushed him somewhere broader. The result is electronica that keeps its hands on live instruments and acoustic recordings, with a sound design that is careful rather than showy.

His first solo release, the Scratch Marchin' EP in 2007, set out the hip-hop and electronic blend that still defines him, and his live group Kormac's Big Band, with brass, strings and drums, carried it onto stage. In 2014 the track Wake Up, from the album Doorsteps, was nominated for the Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year. He made that record by visiting collaborators at home, among them Irvine Welsh and Speech Debelle. His screen work has since included This Town for BBC One in 2024, The Boy That Never Was and the Emmy-nominated Swift Justice. The 2022 album Equivalent Exchange, made with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, ended with a sold-out show at Dublin's National Concert Hall in 2024.