Kneecap - 'Smugglers & Scholars'
If rebellion had a bassline, it’d probably sound like this, and you’d feel it in your chest before you even realised what hit you.
Ahead of the release of their second album FENIAN on 24th April via Heavenly Recordings, Belfast firestarters Kneecap set the tone immediately with new single ‘Smugglers & Scholars, following earlier cut ‘Liars Tale’- and it hits like they’ve been waiting to unleash it.
Premiered on Zane Lowe’s Apple Music 1 Show, the track doesn’t just introduce the album, it smashes the door open and dares you to step inside. A low-end, three-note bass riff creeps in, pure Detroit grit, before steel-heavy percussion locks into place like shutters slamming down before a riot. It’s raw but deliberate, menacing but magnetic. There’s something almost cinematic about the way it builds; you can feel the alleyways narrowing, the tension rising, the hum of a chopper overhead. Kneecap have always thrived in the friction between confrontation and craic, and here they sharpen both to a fine point.
‘Smugglers & Scholars’ reaches back to Ireland’s revolutionary past, but it feels rooted firmly in the now. At its core is unity. The trio frame it around moments when working-class communities, academics and ordinary people came together in search of something better, and you can feel that collective energy running through the track. This is not misty-eyed nostalgia. It is a reminder. The lines slice through the usual romanticised image of Ireland and swap it for something sharper and more honest. Rain-soaked streets, police Land Rovers, helicopters overhead. It’s political without preaching, bold without posturing, and it carries that fearless, unfiltered edge that Kneecap make entirely their own.
The last year has seen Kneecap step into a different league altogether. From a now legendary West Holts set at Glastonbury Festival to arena headline shows in Dublin and beyond, and festival slots across Europe, their rise has felt steady, earned and impossible to ignore. ‘Smugglers & Scholars’ holds that momentum with confidence. It doesn't sound like a band settling into bigger stages. It sounds like one pushing even harder.
If this is how FENIAN opens, then this next chapter is about growth without compromise. The sound feels sharper, the message feels clearer and the ambition feels bigger. Welcome back to Kneecap’s world, louder and more focused than ever, standing firmly at the height of their powers and showing exactly why they belong there.
Words by Dhriti Duggal
