Irish Basement is the post-punk project of Washington, D.C.’s Mike Toohey, a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer who has spent years moving through the seams of indie, punk, and pop scenes. Born in 2021 during the quiet chaos of the pandemic, the project began as a late-night experiment and turned into something sharper, louder, and harder to ignore.

Irish Basement draws from C-86 guitars, shoegaze haze, and new wave synths, while carving out a sound that resists nostalgia cosplay. Their lyrics reflect a sense of emotional detachment, alienation, and romantic fatalism; often using small, specific moments to hold memory up to the light and let the cracks show.

The project has grown steadily through a string of releases, beginning with the debut EP Surfin Serotonin (2022), followed by two full-length albums, Heaven or Hell (2023), and Patterned Behavior (2025). A new covers EP, Burn This on CD, will be released Nov. 11, 2025.

With more than 2 million streams on Spotify, underground press coverage, and collaborations with artists like Funeral Advantage, Irish Basement has built a quiet but loyal following that continues to grow.