These days, Ireland’s Étáin can’t get enough of the diverse arts scene in her adopted home of Edinburgh, where she can collaborate with writers, dancers and playwrights. This hive of creative activity stands in direct contrast to her upbringing in rural County Leitrim. ‘I lived a 20-minute drive from the nearest shop,’ recalls the singer/songwriter/producer. ‘Being on my own in an isolated area I had that freedom to develop my imagination: we didn’t even have broadband access until I was 17! I guess I just gravitated towards music.’

Initially, music was play: messing around on piano and creating melodies from the age of nine. But having started playing guitar and becoming more immersed in songwriting, she was able to draw on the support of musician parents. Her mum and dad were members of 80s rock band Diesel Heart and Étáin recalls sitting in on band rehearsals as a tot. When she started booking her own gigs as a young teenager, mum was a sympathetic driver. ‘I’d practice in the car on the way to the gig and do my homework on the way home,’ she notes. ‘It was a lot of driving round the country; late nights and then school the next day. It was like living two different lives.’

After school, Étáin moved to Dublin to study law and plugged into the Irish speaking music community there. A year in London was followed by a move to Glasgow to work for music and mental health charity Help Musicians. Coincidentally her grandfather had emigrated to Glasgow at the age of 14. ‘It was such different circumstances. He went over speaking only Irish and worked as a farm labourer. There was a bit of anti-Irish sentiment at the time so he would have to sleep with the livestock. That was the way it was until he started working in construction in the city. It really hit me that the generational gap was so big.’

Étáin has now settled in Edinburgh where she completed a masters in music and recruited a band to record her debut album. The Well showcases her delicate folk-flavoured pop across a dozen songs, written over a number of years but recorded in one batch. There are paeans to her childhood home (‘12 Woodlands Avenue’) and her initial time in Scotland (‘Raining In Glasgow’).

‘Nostalgia is a strong theme that comes through in my work,’ she admits. ‘For me the well is this place where all my experiences, all my emotions, everything that is the source of my songwriting comes from; so this album is a love letter to that source which has given me so much over the years. The thing that drives me even now is the songwriting; that’s my first love. I heard someone describe it as more of a behaviour than an activity. If everything else stopped, there’s just no way I could stop myself from writing songs.’

The Well is released digitally on Friday 20 March; Étáin performs at The Caves, Edinburgh, on Thursday 16 April; picture: Elena Stanley.

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