Daithí Ó Drónaí (born 16 March 1990) is íÓDrónaían Irish musician and producer, best known for producing electronic music inspired by Irish culture under the artist name "Daithi". He debuted in 2009 as a participant on All Ireland Talent Show. Since then, Daithi has developed a successful music career in Ireland, releasing an album with Sony Music Entertainment and independently releasing a range of E.P.s. Two of his singles, "Chameleon Life" and "Mary Keanes Introduction" were nominated for the Choice Music Prize.
Daithi is well known for his unique approach to live electronic music. His live performances are House music based, and use Synthesizers, the computer program Ableton Live and a synthesised Fiddle. The performance is improvised, with each "track" being broken up into small loops and mixed together differently at each show. His live show has been toured around Europe, and is a mainstay at festivals in Ireland. Daithi has supported international acts such as Disclosure (band), DJ Shadow, The xx, Santigold, Macklemore and Duke Dumont.
In 2015, Daithi released a single called "Mary Keanes Introduction" a track which went viral in Ireland. The track featured Daithi's 90-year-old grandmother at the start of the track, talking about how she met her husband. The track stayed at no1 in the Spotify Irish viral charts for 6 weeks, was featured in NME and received extensive radio play in Ireland. The track was considered the beginning of a change of direction for Daithi, moving from Pop music to Electronic dance music inspired by Irish culture and the west of Ireland.
Early life
Ó Drónaí was taught the traditional fiddle by his family whilst growing up in Ballyvaughan, County Clare. His Family, the Droney family, has a strong tradition of Traditional Irish music; his Grandfather is a well known concertina player, Chris Droney .In his teenage years, he progressed to playing the bass guitar for local bands in North Clare.
Daithi attended boarding school Rockwell College in Tipperary. While he didn't particularly enjoy the sports focused school, it was here that he learned how to write music.
"I went through a hibernation period of two years just doing study, school and music. That's where I learned how to write songs. I hated boarding school, but while I was there, I learned how to write music so it wasn't all bad."
Daithi went to university at Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge, studying Journalism and the Media. While in his first year in College he began experimenting with the fiddle and a loop station, a type of Guitar pedal that loops sounds on top of each other. During his first year at college, Ó Dronaí auditioned for the first series of The All Ireland Talent Show. Using the loop station and the fiddle, He was selected to represent the West and was mentored by namesake Dáithí Ó Sé., and went on to perform in the Final of the show. A year later Daithi appeared in the audition phases of Sky 1's Must Be The Music, gaining three yes votes from the judges. He later was chosen as one of the 15 Semi-finalists, and his tracks became available to download on Sky Music. He became the first of two acts to reach the final of the show, and his track "Carraroe" reached number 6 in the UK Indie singles chart on the same night. The final of the show took place in Wembley Arena, where Daithí performed to a 10,000 capacity crowd.
Embrace (E.P.) (2011) Embrace was Daithi's first official music release. The E.P was recorded in Galway at the Forge Studios in Galway, and produced by David Phelan. The EP is focused on looped live fiddle over strong percussive beats.
The lead single Sleep Like A Stone was premiered on Nialler9, and featured a video from Feel Good Lost. The video was the first music video produced by Feel good Lost, who went on to produce the video for Hozier's Take Me to Church.
Following the release of the EP, Daithi began playing live shows across the country, including his first performances at Electric Picnic, Body & Soul Music Festival, and Castle Palooza.
In Flight (Album) (2014) At the start of 2012 Daithi was approached by Sony Music Ireland, and signed a development and record deal with the company. Daithi began working with David Kitt, learning song writing and structure. He then went on to work with Ian Ring, a producer from Cork band Young Wonder. Ian began teaching Daithi production skills, and the pair went on to record several songs for Daithi's debut album. During the process, Daithi developed an interest in pop music, which became the focus for In Flight.