Late last year I posted an article on the wonderful night of live and acoustic music that happens every Wednesday night in Bruxelles Bar in Dublin. Curated by Barry “Jazz” Finnegan, the Zodiac Sessions is always the perfect opportunity to acquaint yourself with some of the best up-and-coming talent that Ireland has to offer. Some of the names that I have come to know from my regular visits are the excellent Ryan Cahill, Aaron Rowe, Niamh Keane, Dan Elliott, along with many others. But one of the real standouts has to be 21 year old Dublin singer/songwriter, Amy Naessens.

The BIMM Dublin student has never failed to blow me away when ever I have had the pleasure of seeing her live, and it is clear that there is a lot more to come from the songwriter. Naessens is currenty in the process of recording new music that will be released sometime in this coming year, and it is sure to be worth the wait.

While we wait for official releases from Naessens, there is still plenty of music on YouTube and the artist’s personal SoundCloud page to keep us satisfied. An example is this old performance of Armour for the Irish online Youth TV channel, The Big Picture.

Hiding is another song where Naessens demonstrates her outrageous vocal ability to tell us a heartbreaking story about a failing relationship. There is a fragility to the lyrics in this song that can not help but suck in the listener.

My favourite song by the artist is definitely the powerful and touching, Reasons, however. Again the listener is treated to some of the best vocals that you are likely to hear today, as they are complimented by interesting and delicate lyrics.

Watch this space.

MK