Dea Matrona’s Second Album Tackles Identity, Pressure, and Defiance

Mollie McGinn and Orláith Forsythe, the Belfast duo who record and perform as Dea Matrona, released their second studio album Hate That I Care on 5 June 2026 through AWAL Recordings. A visualiser for “A Rebel Song” went up the same day, along with UK and Ireland tour dates including a show at Islington Assembly Hall in London.

Title: Hate That I Care
Artist: Dea Matrona
Release Date: 2026-06-05
Genres: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock
Label: AWAL Recordings
Description: Dea Matrona release Hate That I Care on 5 June 2026 via AWAL Recordings. Ten self-produced alt-rock tracks on identity, pressure, and defiance.

The band formed in 2018, taking their name from Celtic mythology, where dea matrona translates as “divine mother goddess.” Both McGinn and Forsythe sing and play multiple instruments, trading lead vocals. A third original member, Mamie McGinn, played drums until February 2022, when she left to focus on school. The two have written and self-produced everything they have released. Visibility came early through busking videos; a December 2020 cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well” circulated widely online, leading to an appearance on The Late Late Show and a run through Reading and Leeds Festival in 2021. In subsequent years they supported Sting, Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, and The Corrs at the Royal Albert Hall, and played Glastonbury.

Hate That I Care is ten tracks, written and recorded largely on the road, entirely by the band. The songs move between the personal and the political: identity, female empowerment, imposter syndrome, the feeling of being an outsider. Tracks include the title song, “My Own Party,” “A Rebel Song,” and “Aisling.” McGinn and Forsythe have described the record as “vulnerable” and more fully their own than previous work, something arrived at after starting to play together as teenagers and spending years finding their footing.

A UK and Ireland tour is scheduled, with a date confirmed at Islington Assembly Hall in London.

retrofuturista

Retrofurista is a site on design, interesting things, audio visual arts, and food.