Ghost Home Recordings, Rusted Rail, Psychonavigation, Dramacore
Musical artist
Jimmy Monaghan (Irish: Seamus Ó Muíneacháin) is a musician from Belmullet, Ireland. He has released music as a solo artist, and as a member of the anti-folk band Music for Dead Birds. He was listed as one of the top ten Galway-based musicians by The Irish Times in 2011. Irish music website Nialler9 has referred to him as "one of the more singular and quietly prolific voices working in Irish electronic music right now."
Early life
Monaghan was born in Danbury, Connecticut, USA, and moved to Ireland at the age of six. He is of Irish and Italian descent.
Boxing
As a teenager, he was an amateur boxer, winning four Irish national titles, and representing Ireland internationally. He won a silver medal at the 2004 Four Nations tournament and received the Western People Sports Star award the same year.
Music career
Music For Dead Birds
In 2007, he formed Music for Dead Birds with drummer Dónal Walsh in Galway city. Their debut album, And then it rained for seven days, was released in 2009 by the Irish record label Rusted Rail. This was followed by the independently released The Pope's Sister, a concept album about the influence of the Catholic church in Ireland, in 2011, Vitamins in 2014, and Pagan Blessings in 2018.
Solo Work
In July 2012, Psychonavigation Records released his debut solo album Seamus O'Muineachain. The Irish Times reviewed the album positively, calling it a "tremulous if tranquil success." To promote the album he performed at Electric Picnic and Whelan's, Dublin.
The Connacht Tribune has described his music as "ambient, instrumental soundscapes with piano melodies, gentle guitar, percussion and field recordings."
Other musical projects
In 2012, he released an album with Aisling Walsh under the name Christian Bookshop. Hot Press wrote that the project was "an acoustic folk duo in the classic mode, with a decidedly lo-fi approach." Also during 2012, he played the drums for the Galway-based folk band Yawning Chasm.
From 2013-2014, he released a trilogy of lo-fi punk albums under the name The Crytearions. Irish website Thumped called the project "Uncompromising, entirely unpolished and, in places, not entirely pleasant."
Jimmy Monaghan performing at 93 Feet East, London, 2012
In 2011, his radio dramaThumb was shortlisted for the RTÉ PJ O'Connor Award.
In 2022, he began writing under the pseudonym Jay Honeycomb. Working primarily in music journalism, he contributed to the webzine PopMatters, interviewing musicians including Mike Scott and Eiko Ishibashi.
In June 2022, he self-published the novella Post-Bliss.
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