The Kates are one of Ireland’s most quietly compelling rock acts, and 2026 is shaping up to be their breakout year. The Cork-based five-piece have announced their debut album, due later this year, and released new single “You Don’t See It” to open the campaign. It’s the first proper look at where the band has been heading since their 2024 EP ‘Pictures Here of Dreams’ established them as a serious force in Irish independent music.
“You Don’t See It” features lead vocals from Mary Beth O’Mahony and reflects the full collaborative songwriting input of all 5 members. The track builds on The Kates’ rock foundation while pushing their dynamic harmonies further into focus. Percussionist Míde Houlihan’s rhythmic contributions anchor a lyrical theme about the pressures and unwanted attention women face, with time and its passage running through the song’s core. Comparisons to Pillow Queens and Little Green Cars are well-earned, though The Kates have a sound that increasingly belongs to them alone.
The band has covered serious ground since the EP. Festival appearances at Other Voices, Electric Picnic, and the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival followed, alongside a sold-out touring run across Ireland and Wales that included packed nights at DeBarras and Connolly’s of Leap. Their track “Unbalancing” was showcased on RTÉ’s television programme Seisiún, and earlier this year they appeared at the Your Roots Are Showing conference.
The debut EP itself set a strong foundation, with singles “All That Talk” and “Unbalancing” both landing on RTÉ Radio 1’s Recommends playlist and earning support from Today FM, Radio Nova, Live95, RedFM, Cork’s 96FM, and KCLR96FM. Each track on the EP was written by a different member of the band, signaling from the start that The Kates operate as a genuine collective.
Paula K, who founded the group in 2017, reflects on what the debut album represents: “We have spent the last year gigging and writing. The upcoming album is a collection of songs that happened between takes of our work and family lives. Naming that space as a creative outlet, where ideas were born and we found out more about ourselves as a band. Our Kates space.”
The origin of The Kates carries its own weight. Paula K created the band in memory of her late mother Catherine, a feminist who loved to lift other women up, as a fundraiser for ovarian cancer charity OvaCare. “The fundraiser was in memory of my mother, who passed away from ovarian cancer,” Paula explains. “The Kates have been going ever since.” Early performances celebrated songs by women, covering Sharon Van Etten, Orla Gartland, Angel Olsen, Lucy Dacus, Patti Smith, The Staves, and Haim, a lineage that still informs the band’s creative values.
That foundation, built on community, memory, and a genuine commitment to lifting women’s voices in music, runs through everything The Kates do. “You Don’t See It” is the next chapter, and the debut album will be the fullest picture yet of what this band has become.
“You Don’t See It” is out now. The debut album follows later in 2026.
