FENIAN

When I visited Belfast a few years ago, my ignorant ass was surprised to discover that the conflicts of the Troubles weren't neatly resolved by 1998's Good Friday Agreement. Open warfare may have ceased, but the gates between Catholic and Protestant neighbours are still locked at nighttime, and the pain remains raw among people old enough to have been there at the time. The Troubles are receding into pop culture history via productions like Belfast, Say Nothing and Derry Girls — but for Kneecap, there's still a battle to fight, and FENIAN is their latest offensive.FENIAN's title refers to the Irish revolutionaries seeking freedom from the British Empire, a cause that remains urgent for Northern Irish republicans who want to reunite Ireland under independent rule. Kneecap's existence is inherently political simply because they rap mostly in their Irish language, but the most inflammatory thing about the band these days is their outspoken support of Palestine. That's what got them banned from entering Canada (maybe?) and investigated by the UK's Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (before the matter was thrown out).That inspires FENIAN's most striking moment: "Carnival," a send-up of the political circus surrounding them, featuring courtroom drama à la "Fuck tha Police" and a refrain of, "There's a carnival coming to a town near you / Kneecap vs. thе Crown, so come here, you!" Móglaí Bap raps, "Investigate the people join armies far and wide / Instead of the people who oppose a fuckin' genocide," with words like "Coachella" and "Gaza" jumping out in Mo Chara's Irish-language bars. The very next song is called "Palestine," and it's rapped entirely in Irish — save for a guest verse from Fawzi in Arabic.The irony of Kneecap's urgent political potency is that FENIAN is fun as hell, with the group shout-rapping over bumping club beats, leading my colleague Sydney Brasil to point out that it sounds a bit like the Black Eyed Peas at points. Where is the love, indeed.