As regular readers of this blog will now know, there is no shortage of talented Irish musicians in Ireland just waiting to make their breakthrough. This blog has already looked at some of the names that regularly appear at The Zodiac Sessionsevery Wednesday or perform in Temple Bar across the week. But there are plenty of young musicians in the country who are investigating different avenues to get their name out there, one of these talented performers is Dublin singer/songwriter Niamh Crowther.

The first thing that strikes you when you hear Crowther perform is the voice. The ability for the primary school teacher to soar across that upper register in her songs is instantly apparent and adds another element to the already expertly crafted songs. This vocal range is clearly demonstrated in this performance of the Calvin Harris song, How Deep Is Your Love?, that she did for Joe.ie – this is an outrageous cover.

After years of hard work building up a reputation in Irish music, Crowther would eventually release her debut EP, simply entitled Niamh Crowther, on 20 May 2016 and would serve as the perfect summation of the work that had been done by Crowther up to that point. A collection of four beautifully crafted songs investigating love, relationships, and a sense of self, they demonstrate the high quality of musicianship and the vocal ability of Crowther in the best possible way.

I’ll Be

The EP opens with the beautiful piano and guitar driven, I’ll Be. A song about the protagonist explaining to the subject of her love that she will be everything to them, the fragility of the vocals and the simplicity of the instrument mean that the listener believes every lyric that is being sang.

Little By Little

Little By Little is the first track that I heard by the Meath singer/songwriter and it instantly caught my attention. This song is another example of the proficiency of Crowther with a guitar as the playing through the song instantly puts the listener at ease as that crazy vocal range implores a love interest to consider Crowther instead of that other girl.

Painkillers

On Painkillers, the production is stripped back and we are left with a solo guitar to compliment the pitch perfect vocals.

Origins

The last song on the EP is also the best in my opinion, a haunting piano ballad about the difficulties of being unsure of a relationship and just wanting to go home to avoid it. This is another song where the vocals of Crowther perfectly meld with the instrumentation. Brilliant.

Niamh Crowther EP was an incredibly composed debut release and hinted at so much still to come. What comes for Niamh Crowther in the future will certainly be worth paying attention to.

MK