BoolaBoom Unleash Carnival Energy With Explosive New Single ‘Shuffle’ & Announce Debut EP

Riding high from a year packed with festival highs and a coveted support slot for house music legend Kerri Chandler, genre-bending 24-piece collective BoolaBoom return with a thunderous new single, ‘Shuffle’. Premiered on BBC Radio 6 Music, the new single is also joined with the news of their eagerly awaited debut EP.

Emerging from the unlikely crossroads of house, techno, samba and big band jazz, the Cork-based group has built a name for themselves through sheer sonic force and international flair. Comprised of musicians hailing from Ireland, Brazil, France, Chile, the UK, New Zealand, and beyond, BoolaBoom fuse multicultural roots with mainstage-ready beats. Their live setup – 12 horn players and 10 samba drummers strong – delivers a sensory overload designed for festival euphoria.

With ‘Shuffle’, BoolaBoom distill their high-octane performances into a single track that pulses with dancefloor electricity. Fiery brass licks swirl around four-on-the-floor rhythms, as syncopated samba percussion drives the momentum. A euphoric vocal chant erupts midway, breaking into a call-and-response breakdown lifted straight from Rio Carnival — then crashes back into a hands-in-the-air house drop that feels tailor-made for midnight festival peaks.

“We love mixing big band jazz with a thumping samba-house beat,” says bandleader and producer Darragh O’Connor. “When we play this live we always get the audience chanting along, fists punching the air just before the drop. It’s that ‘cup final’ energy that brings the whole crowd together.”

Capturing that energy in the studio was no small feat. With 24 musicians to wrangle and a DIY ethos, BoolaBoom decided to lean into their strength: playing live. “We knew we had to record everyone together to bottle the energy,” O’Connor explains. “No sound booths. Everyone stands when they play. If you’re playing dance music, you should be on your feet doing a little… Shuffle.”

Perhaps most notably, their samba-fueled street performance of Chandler’s ‘Atmosphere’ turned heads – and turned into an invitation to support the US house pioneer at a sold-out show at Cyprus Avenue. Now, with a debut EP on the horizon and a mainstage slot locked in for Kaleidoscope Festival 2025, BoolaBoom’s rhythmic revolution is only just beginning.

Expect their debut EP – fronted by the boisterous and brilliant ‘Shuffle’ – to land with the same unmissable impact as their live show: loud, joyful, and impossible not to move to.