Dork’s Hype List is our annual spotlight on the artists who’ve started to really stand out - not because they’re destined for instant superstardom, but because there’s something in what they’re doing that feels fresh, deliberate and worth keeping close tabs on.
It isn’t about calling winners or demanding overnight breakthroughs. Consider it a guide to the acts shaping the edges of what’s next: the ones we’re excited about, curious about, and confident enough to back as they take their next steps.
Given they hadn’t graced a stage outside the Emerald Isle until January, when they opened a BBC Introducing night at London’s Lower Third, the quartet have made something of a habit of galivanting around the world playing headliners, festivals, and support slots for some of the biggest names in pop.
We’re catching the band on their tour bus, one we assume is a bit chilly given Lily’s wearing a massive puffer jacket, in Prague as they travel around Europe with their lifelong idols Wolf Alice.
“It’s our first time here and we’re so excited,” drummer Hannah Kelly smiles. “We played in Warsaw yesterday and it was probably one of the best shows we’ve ever done.”
Lily agrees: “Yeah, it was amazing how many people turned out to see us, people singing our lyrics back to us, and they gave us this flag, which was so sweet.”
The flag in question is a lesbian pride flag with ‘We Love Florence Road’ in big letters, something which clearly means a lot more to the band than just any old gimmick, and also highlights the power of Florence Road, still so early in their career.
“It’s been really cool to see the range of people who come down and see us,” Lily says.
“At the Olivia Rodrigo shows, it was a lot of kids and younger people, but even people our parents’ age love it too. These Wolf Alice crowds have been a slightly older demographic, and they seem to be coming out to actually support us. It’s such a cool thing that we’re resonating with all ages and all genres of people.”
This European leg is the latest of their globetrotting ventures, one which began with shows with Olivia Rodrigo in Ireland and London, continued with Royel Otis, and is set to continue with a North American stint with The Last Dinner Party.
If they weren’t already, it was their tour with Royel Otis in Australia that sent Florence Road stratospheric.
“It was incredible,” bassist Ailbhe Barry recalls. “Everyone was so lovely, the weather was phenomenal, but we were also playing to such big crowds. We did a pop-up show in Sydney, and more than 200 people turned up. We were going, ‘It’ll be 20 people, nice and intimate’, but it was jammers!”
In a trip that saw Lily perform the Cranberries’ hit ‘Linger’ with Royel Otis, they also powered through a triple j performance of their blinding new single ‘Miss’ and yanked at the heartstrings of, at the time of writing, the 52,000 people who have watched their gorgeous yet gut-wrenching cover of Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘Georgia’ on YouTube. That’s a number that is certainly not bad for a band who had never been Down Under until this autumn and currently have just the one mixtape under their belts. What a mixtape it is, though.
"It’s been a year of firsts, a year of the girls taking over the world!"
Thinking back to the mixtape’s release, Lily says: “We wanted to record and release music for such a long time that to actually have it out in the world is amazing. We put everything into it; we felt like it was something really special. We’re glad that people resonated with it!”
Hannah nods: “It’s heartwarming for sure. It’s like sending your child out into the world, so you’re so anxious for it to do well. I was maybe surprised at how well ‘Figure It Out’ did because it was on the rockier side of things for us, and it was literally made with just the four of us recording in the shed. There was no massive production.”
“It’s good that it was one of our rock songs that did well,” Lily adds, “because that’s who we are at our core, really.”
As if proving that point, their latest single ‘Miss’ journeys from visceral, boygenius-esque opening into a fully fledged arena-rock anthem, replete with taunting ad-libs, crunchy layered riffs, and an aura that wouldn’t feel out of place at a hard rock show. Not only that, but it paves the way for their as-yet-unreleased follow-up, ‘Storm Warnings’.
A track that swirls and spirals, building into a delightfully disorientating alt-rock-slash-trad-folk tune that harks back to their homeland while also looking steely-eyed and bloody-mindedly toward the future.
“We wrote it in the first batch of songs that we wrote together, the same time as ‘Figure It Out’,” Hannah remembers, “so we’ve played it for years and years on tour and it’s one of our favourites.”
“We went out to LA this summer,” she continues, “and worked with Dan Wilson, who did ‘Hand Me Downs’ with us, and we were able to add in all the things we’d envisaged for the song. Loads of layered riffs, the vocals, and strings.”
Talking about Dan’s influence, Ailbhe says: “He got the vision straightaway. He said, ‘This is so Irish,’ which is exactly what we wanted.”
“It’s had a bit of a renaissance,” Lily notes. “We took it back to the drawing board and changed some stuff, rewrote some parts, and then built in all these things we’d always dreamed of doing.”
Given the relative youth of both the band and their career so far, it would be easy to get into a swanky Los Angeles studio and throw every idea at the wall to see what sticks. Testament to their nous and maturity, though, Florence Road took the calm and measured approach. Maybe not the most rock and roll, but definitely the right path to take.
“It would be so easy to make a cool sound and say, ‘OK, we have to do that in every bar of every song from now on’,” Hannah explains. “You have to be intentional about it. Your first instinct is to put the cool stuff in every chorus, but giving it the room to breathe and then explode later on sounds so much better.”
Lily adds, “Yeah, absolutely, but I think we managed to get everything balanced. Nothing’s too overwhelming, so you hear something different each time. I get so emotional when we play it live. I have to really breathe through it and keep myself grounded. It’s one that you feel really strongly every time.”
Coyly, Lily hints: “The music lets you know what it wants to do, and, as much as we try to be who we are, we have to let the music speak.
“But I think this is the direction we’re going in. We love being a band that makes longing music, stuff that stretches the heart.”
They’ve got time to decipher this new direction properly when they finally stop for breath during a month back at home in Ireland this January, a pit stop in an otherwise packed-out calendar that couldn’t have come at a better time for the band.
“We’ll be back to the shed, jamming, writing, but it’ll also keep us humble,” guitarist Emma Brandon smirks.
“We love home,” Ailbhe grins. “I never realised how green Ireland is until we left, but now I’m like: where are the trees? I just need to touch grass!”
Before we get too carried away with looking forward, how can the band even begin to process the last twelve months?
“It’s been a year of firsts, a year of the girls taking over the world!” Lily says.
“We’re just taking it day by day and keeping it grounded, or we’ll freak out. Like, singing with Royel Otis? I had to keep saying to myself, ‘This is fine, this is a totally normal thing to do.’”
“It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of hard work, but we’re excited to share what we’ve been working on,” Emma adds. “We just have to keep riding the wave, keep on keeping on!”
If 2026 provides even a tenth of the success that Florence Road have experienced this year, then they’ll still be one of the biggest bands on the scene by this time next year.
There are very few bands we bestow the term ‘generational’ upon. But if Florence Road continue to write music that every fan of rock music wishes they were capable of making, there’s no reason why they can’t be one of those bands. ■
Taken from the December 2025 / January 2026 issue of Dork, out now.
