Formed after meeting at Trinity College, Dublin, the backgrounds of Burglar’s Willow Hannon and Eduardo Pinheiro are very different, yet intrinsically linked by growing up surrounded by music. Though born thousands of miles apart, the alt-rock duo create such a gorgeous sound that they must have been destined to make music together.
Eduardo grew up in Goiânia, Brazil, surrounded by a vibrant punk and garage scene in an area he describes as “the Brazilian Seattle.” “My friend Nicholas’ Dad used to be in a band called Mechanics and founded this label called Monstro,” Eduardo explains. “He started his own festival, Goiânia Noise, which has grown exponentially and still takes place every year. I’d hang out at Nicholas’ house, and he’d be like, ‘Look at this picture of me with the singer from Mudhoney!’ So I knew of all these weird bands from an early age; it was all very DIY and very cool.”
Meanwhile, thousands of miles across the ocean in Ireland, Willow Hannon was growing up in a musical household where gigs and festivals were a norm from a very young age. Willow’s Dad is the frontman and founder of legendary Irish band The Divine Comedy, and she recalls a photograph of herself at Reading Festival back in 2002 when she was less than a year old. “I’ve always been around live music and seen behind the scenes of it all, but the wonder of a big festival or show is never lost on me.”
"We wanted to introduce some silliness and colour”
— Willow Hannon
Both Eduardo and Willow were already creating music themselves when they bonded at college over their love of 90s bands. “Smashing Pumpkins, always, forever,” enthuses Eduardo. “They’re everything to me! I’ve always had this idea of writing a nostalgic ballad, which is something they do so well - I’m always trying to write my own version of ‘Perfect’.”
It took a while before they realised they could create music together, almost stumbling across their formula accidentally while Willow was producing some music for Eduardo. “I was doing some little harmonies on Eduardo’s solo stuff just for fun, and our friends were saying, ‘Wow, your voices sound really nice together!’” says Willow. “We’d been good friends just bonding over a love of music before we even realised we could make music together,” adds Eduardo. “It was very easy to find that chemistry, because we were already friends.”
That chemistry and beautifully warm vocal interplay are what makes Burglar such an irresistible prospect. It’s a subtle and sincere chemistry, as demonstrated on their previous single ‘Lovey', where Willow’s delicate vocals complement Eduardo’s laid-back delivery. It’s understated and completely unpretentious in a way that feels like making music together is the most natural thing in the world for the pair.
“We realised very early on that we needed to hang on to our own voices and how they go together,” says Willow. “We really leaned into the harmonies and the back and forth and how we could use that to our advantage.”
It’s important to state that the band are very self-aware, and are keen to stress that they made a very distinct effort to not use anything to do with Willow’s family background to their advantage. “I didn’t go messaging my dad’s friends, going, ‘Hey, can you get me this and this?’ My Dad is also a huge hermit crab, so he wouldn’t be cool with any of that anyway! We really wanted to do this off our own back and prove that we were actually good.”
This particular choice not to call in any favours means that Burglar have worked twice as hard to be a good live band and record music they’re happy with. Their first official introduction to the world came in the form of their debut EP, ‘Unlucky’ in July 2025, which features a prominent vein of 90s nostalgia running throughout, leaning heavily on their more shoegazey side. It was an impressive showcase of their potential, helping to cement their place as mainstays on the Dublin indie scene and bagging support slots across the UK with the likes of The Belair Lip Bombs, US Girls and Ugly. It also marked them out as serious ones to watch, claiming a slot on Dork’s very own Hype List for 2026.
The ‘Unlucky’ EP demonstrates a moodier sound than that of their latest offerings, which are much lighter and more whimsical, something which Eduardo points out himself. “We’re quite funny people as well, so I have no real intention to sound super serious - people see through that. With the new material, the production is way better, and the songwriting is better - we’re saying more pertinent things. It’s just a lot catchier.”
As if to emphasise the fact that they’re going for a less-serious vibe, the video for ‘Lovey’ saw the duo pulling some interesting dance moves in front of a green screen, which by the final edit became a mix of random backgrounds, from psychedelic kaleidoscopes to The Great Wall of China. “We just wanted to introduce some silliness and colour,” laughs Willow. “Our mutual friend from college, Cathal Eustace, worked with us on the video, and he’s kind of embarrassed by it! We’re trying to convince him it’s really cool and everyone loves it.”
“It’s a nice shift from black and white moodiness,” adds Eduardo. “Don’t get me wrong, a lot of bands do that very well and are way better at doing that whole thing than we ever want to be, but we feel like our new music doesn’t sound like the black and white moody aesthetic we’ve used in the past."
Burglar’s new single, ‘Star-Crossed’, arrives before they head out on their debut headline UK tour. It’s a skittering slice of indie-pop with hooky lyrics where the pair tightly harmonise, quietly begging the question, “And if you think that it could last, why throw it away?”
“'Star-Crossed' is actually an old song that I started writing in 2023, trying to create this beautiful package of a pop song,” explains Eduardo. “The idea behind the lyrics is that I think people overthink relationships too much; sometimes, people should just stick around each other. That’s the idea behind that simple sing-along chorus: if something is going well, why change it? Everything is always changing so much all the time, and there are so many big changes in the world right now. Can we just stick to the easy stuff sometimes?”
As the hype around them continues, there are plans for an album later this year, and the band have recently signed to TULLE, the label of fellow Irish alt-rockers M(h)aol, who have endless support for Burglar’s vision. The pair are already chomping at the bit to get their debut album out into the world, so much so that they are already writing songs for their second album.
“Our songwriting methods are constantly developing, and the tracks on our debut are two years old already,” says Eduardo. “There are twelve tracks, and it’s a big break-up album, but presented from different angles – my big emotional drama from two years ago. I think that pop songs should be romantic, and I have a lot to say about that!”
Burglar's single 'Star-Crossed' is out now.
