Irish Basement is the post-punk project of Washington, D.C.’s Mike Toohey, a writer 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 post-punk 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.