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Acclaimed singer Sorcha Richardson discusses her stunning debut album, First Prize Bravery, transatlantic living, negotiating friendships and relationships, and why she’s happy to be back home in Dublin.

It goes without saying – first albums are tricky. But in Sorcha Richardson’s case, that felt particularly true considering that her musical output to date has consisted of brilliantly evocative singles, which don’t conform to a single genre (there’s lo-fi indie, folk rock, synth-pop – take your pick).

Richardson is a bit of an anomaly on the Irish music scene. For most of the time that she spent becoming a successful musician, she was away from these shores (she moved to America after school to study creative writing in Brooklyn, where she lived up until last year). She had a dedicated following back in Ireland, but it was on the digital landscape that her stature grew; singles like ‘Last Train’ and ‘Ruin Your Night’ gained a staggering amount of traction on Spotify, and Sorcha found herself placed on major playlists, where her songs amassed tens of millions of plays. When I spoke to her last year during a public interview, she laughed casually about a surreal moment when she woke up one morning to find her phone ablaze with notifications: Hollywood star Chloe Grace Moretz had shared her song ‘Petrol Station’ with her 3 million+ followers on Twitter.

The singles releases were obviously doing well, but making a complete body of work was something that had been on Sorcha’s mind for a while now.

“It’s exciting to do this after doing the single thing for a few years,” she says. “It’s exciting to make a more complete picture. This feels like a novel rather than a short story.” The 10 songs on First Prize Bravery are packed with vivid imagery, documenting the minutiae of social interactions: the dramatic early days of a relationship (‘Honey’); the old friend who talks about standing up for your own (‘First Prize Bravery’); and the tail-end of a late night, where the penny drops that a relationship isn’t incompatible (‘Oh Oscillator’). Sorcha’s voice gravitates brilliantly from deeply melodic, confessional and poetic (“Watched you move around the room / You’re more magnetic than the moon”) to a kind of blunt tongue-in-cheek irony (“Hey, Ok, we don’t have to talk about it / It’s only love”). On top of that, her penchant for telling stories about intensely relatable social situations mean that if this is a ‘novel’, it could well be a Sally Rooney one.

“Once I decided that I was going to make this, I started writing differently compared to anything that I’d done before,” says Sorcha, explaining how she sat down in front of the piano in her parents’ house and, still unsure of her ability with the keys, just… started writing.

“After a while I stopped and said, ‘Right let me look at everything I’ve done from the past year-and-a-half.’ I spent a few weeks trying to get a clearer direction of how I wanted the album to be. A lot of it came to me when I was driving around LA with one of my friends, listening to the demos in his car. Because I think you hear them in a much different way when you listen to them out in the world, than when you listen to them with headphones on. I can’t listen properly that way. I’m too analytical. So over a couple of weeks, I went “It’s exciting to make a more complete picture. This feels like a novel rather than a short story.”

through this process of kicking things off the list, until there were maybe 14 or 15 songs. Then taking those ones and saying, ‘These are the ones I think make the most sense. These are the ones I want to work on.’” For the recording process, Sorcha teamed up with Alex Casnoff, who had been her friend and the producer of many of her songs in the past.

“Alex and I had worked on ‘4AM’ and ‘Waking Life’ and ‘Can’t We Pretend’. Some of these songs existed back then. I showed him early versions of ‘Oh Oscillator’ and ‘High In The Garden’, so we were talking about these songs for a while, but it didn’t feel like they were ready to be recorded. Then I spent some time in New York, recording some better studio demos.

“After that, the bulk of the recording was done between Dublin and LA. Alex got a band of his friends and we recorded a lot of the drums and piano and bass live together. Then we kind of finished it with a lot of swapping of hard drives and Abletons back and forth. Alex has produced most of my music that people would have heard, so it felt easier to let him take the reins than it might have with other producers.” Lyrically, First Prize Bravery is about negotiating friendships and relationships. How did Richardson find herself gravitating towards those themes?

She thinks on it. “What happens with songwriting is – the times when things go wrong, I really find myself dwelling on that a lot. The way I know how to understand things better is to write about it. Then it ends up in the songs. And also, friendships and relationships are confusing. The intricacies between yourself and another person – whatever category of relationship it is – they’re so messy and so confusing, and so much goes left unsaid. And if you would just say what you mean, maybe it would be easier. (Laughs) But then, maybe it wouldn’t? Maybe people find that vulnerability hard to deal with. But I always find that interesting, and that’s what I always return to. The quiet intimate moments between two people that are confusing.”

Added into the confusion was the fact that Sorcha was spending almost a decade living between Ireland and the US. Was it difficult to even conceive of a relationship with someone when you didn’t know where you’d be in a few months?

“Not necessarily,” she says, “but I like being spontaneous. I like being able to leave at the drop of a hat. So that actually suits me fine. So yeah… Not really, and I haven’t been in a serious relationship for a while. So I think, you know, having the freedom to decide ‘I want to go to New York for a month’, or ‘I’m going to live in Dublin for a couple of months’ – I like having the freedom to know I can make those decisions without too many consequences.”

Despite this, Sorcha feels comfortable being back in Dublin – for the meantime anyway.

“The last six months or so, I’ve loved being here,” she smiles. “I was in New York at the end of the summer and my friends were making fun of me, because I was talking about Dublin so much and telling them about how good it was, but I do love being here. I’m happy to call Dublin home.”

With more Irish shows and an appearance at the prestigious Eurosonic Festival on the horizon, the songs from Sorcha’s debut album will get their full live airing soon. We can’t wait.

The perfect escape, especially during winter months. San Diego has some of the most agreeable weather in the world. The coldest it gets is only about 15°C, while its hottest temperatures hover around 33°C. Most of the year, it’s somewhere in the middle. The people of Sunny San Diego tend to take life pretty slow as a result of the nice weather, so expect a relaxed atmosphere.

In terms of location, San Diego is tucked right in the southwesternmost corner of California, directly bordering Mexico. Tijuana is right across the border and makes a great day trip. If you play your cards right and have a lot of flexibility, you can snag a flight to San Diego from Dublin for as little as €200-250. More typically, though, you’ll be pay around €300 or more, with prices skyrocketing through the €800 mark during the holidays. Luckily, San Diego International Airport is very centrally located, and an Uber, Lyft or taxi will get you to the city in five-to-10 minutes.

To maximise your stay and see as much as possible, you’ll want to rent a car. The unfortunate reality of Southern California is that the public transportation system simply doesn’t hold a candle to Dublin, or many other places around the world for that matter. Like Los Angeles, San Diego is quite spread out, and though there’s a bus and trolley system, driving will get you to your destination faster every time.

If you’re travelling light and looking to save money, there are a host of hostel options available in San Diego, many of which are located along the beach and geared towards the surfer crowd. Airbnb is an option as well – just make sure the place you select isn’t too far from the city. We recommend staying in Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach or Mission Valley: these places are jam-packed with fun activities.

If you’re looking for a hotel, there are some truly stunning options downtown. If you’re looking for spectacular views, La Jolla is also a great place to stay. It’s undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous beachside communities in the city, but be warned: it’s not cheap. Tempting though they may be, try not end up in Encinitas or Carlsbad if you want to fully experience the city. They have beautiful beaches and they’re a joy to visit, but they’re simply too far from all the action.

When it comes to food, you certainly won’t go hungry in San Diego! The options are plentiful, and to die for. There are so many hidden gems, most of which won’t break the bank, thankfully. Our best advice is to just download Yelp when you arrive and peruse the choices. One essential desination is the Taco Stand – you simply must try Mexican food when you come to San Diego. The Taco Stand is one of the many delicious and inexpensive Mexican joints scattered around the city. There’s one branch in La Jolla and another downtown. Sometimes there’s a bit of a daunting line outside, but trust

us, it’s worth the wait.

Also well worth worth checking out is Lucky’s Golden Phenix, a breakfast joint in the hip North Park district. They serve a super-cheap American breakfast – coffee, juice, pancakes, sausage, bacon, ham, eggs however you want them – and they serve it well.

Another great spot is Chez Nous, which given its Scripps Ranch location, might be a little out of your way. But go anyway! It offers one of the best dishes we’ve ever enjoyed: the indescribably delicious Spicy Chicken Melt. Also worth visiting are Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa, which has all the best Asian food in San Diego; TJ Tacos, another great Mexican restaurant up in Escondido; and beloved Californian fast food chain In-N-Out Burger.

Turning to nightlife, the Gaslamp Quarter offers a great evening, while Pacific Beach is for those who want to kick back and listen to the waves after a night of drinks and dancing.

If you’re looking to see a concert, the Observatory in North Park is a great spot to catch the bigger acts. North Park is one of San Diego’s hippest areas so it’s well worth arriving early and having a walk around if you time allows. To catch some local acts, see if there’s a show at the Ché Café while you’re in town. Situated on UC San Diego’s campus in La Jolla, it’s undoubtedly the best DIY venue in the city. There’s also of plenty of sightseeing to do around the city. Balboa Park is arguably top of the list – it’s a big, beautiful park with a tonne of museums, gardens and green spaces. If you have kids, go to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. If you like plants, check out the Botanical Building, and uf

you want to centre yourself, go to the Japanese Friendship Garden. As the name suggests, the Old Town is quaint and full of history, and easily accessible via the Old Town Trolley.

Also of note is the San Diego Zoo, located right next to Balboa Park. Lesser known though equally cool is the Wild Animal Park. For maritime adventure, head to La Jolla Cove, where there’s swimming, snorkelling, surfing and plenty of other water-based activities on offer. You’ll probably see some seals and sea lions, too! We’d also heartily recommend Little Italy and Torrey Pines State Reserve, the latter offering the city’s best hiking trail. You can hike along the cliffs or take a walk along the beach, or do a mix of the two. It’s great place to visit after a night of gorging on tacos and it offers killer sunsets, too. Torrey Pines also has an awesome glider port, where you can watch hang gliders jet off the cliffs, or strap up with a pro and do it yourself! Don’t miss it.

The beach communities of Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas are a bit further north. They all boast great beauty and terrific waves for surfing, and they’re great for picnics. These beach communities are a bit further north. All of them are beautiful. Like almost every beach in San Diego, they offer great waves for surfing, and are perfect for picnics.

Finally, the Cabrillo National Monument offers a panoramic view of the city that’s just a stone’s throw from downtown. During low tide, there are also some pretty incredible tide pools along the water in Point Loma.

Whatever takes your fancy in San Diego, enjoy to the full!