Irish rap trio
Kneecap
made their international breakthrough in 2024, when their self-titled film premiered at Sundance and won the NEXT Audience Award, and the ambitious full-length
Fine Art
was released to a similar level of acclaim. The trio identify as Irish republicans, and their songs are in favor of their country's freedom from British rule, while recognizing the daily struggle of the working class. They're also extremely hedonist and like to take drugs, party hard, and act like hooligans. The film is a dramatized version of the story of
's formation and rise, with the rappers playing themselves. The soundtrack album features several
tracks, incidental music, snippets of film dialogue, and a handful of songs by other artists. It plays somewhat like a condensed audiobook version of the film, touching on its various plot points while giving a spotlight to the band's rowdy, club-informed hip-hop. Selections from
appear, sometimes in different versions, as well as early
singles like "C.E.A.R.T.A" (an Irish-language track that was the subject of controversy when it was banned from the radio due to drug references and cursing) and the drum'n'bass-ish "H.O.O.D." Non-
selections include tracks by punk-rap ranters
Dirty Faces
, folk ensemble
the Bonny Men
, post-punks
Fontaines D.C.
(whose frontman
Grian Chatten
is featured on
's "Better Way to Live"), and melancholy rave classics by
Bicep
and
Orbital
(though the physical edition of the soundtrack includes the dialogue-laced version of "Belfast" included in the film). Somewhat perversely, one of the film's action scenes is set to
the Prodigy
's "Smack My Bitch Up," but with the title phrase edited out -- the song is absent on the soundtrack album. "Fall in Love Again," a striking soul ballad by
Alanna Royale
, seems like a strange inclusion compared to the rest of the album, but it's welcome nonetheless. The well-sequenced
soundtrack ends up being more entertaining than the group's proper releases. ~ Paul Simpson