Their mission statement was to merge electronica, dance and pop while fostering a spirit of inclusion always evident at the long-gone club in Dublin’s docklands from where they took their name.
Never Gonna Look At You The Same and other songs on their debut EP Factory Settings smelled like prime Mary Chain but 2015’s EP The Perfect Day found them transitioning from the Reid brothers’ influence to
more beat-driven cacophonies on its title track and the quietly epic History.
On 2017’s debut album, A Safe Distance To Watch, they transitioned again. One of its stand-out tracks, This City Doesn’t Feel Like Home To Me, reflected the disappointment lead singer and principal songwriter Fiachra felt with Dublin after arriving from Bray in pursuit of a musical career; a city that was said to prize its artists, now prices creativity beyond its boundaries.
With Ken McCabe on keyboards/electronics, Columbia Mills’ burgeoning
fanbase will be in no way surprised that the tracks on their sophomore album, CCTV (due for release in 2020) sees continuing evidence of that constant music development. The new songs reveal a band who have truly found their voice but also the hands to fashion the sound to which they’ve aspired.