Spotlight On... Étain

Championed by Popgirlz in the mag back in 2023, Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter and producer Étain is set to release her long-anticipated debut album, The Well, this Friday (20 Mar). Originally from the north west of Ireland, the album takes its name from the spring well that supplied water to her childhood home in County Leitrim. A metaphor for renewal and Étain’s continuing evolution as a songwriter, its 12 tracks feature songs from her teenage years to the present day, reworked into fuller compositions alongside guitarist Ciaran McKinven, bassist Francis Brewitt, percussionist Chris Cullen and vocalist Alessandra Douglas. Despite this, the songs remain delicate incantations, with a vulnerability in Étain's delivery that gives the songs a deeply personal and intimate feeling. Ahead of The Well's release, we catch up with Étain to find out more.

You began composing at the age of nine; I'd love to know how you came to start writing music at such a young age?
In Irish culture, organised religion traditionally sat at the heart of the family home, but in mine it was music. My parents played in a band when they were younger and my dad was a songwriter. Their friends were musicians too and they'd often come to visit. Growing up in that environment, using music as a channel for self-expression felt like the most natural thing in the world. When I got manuscript paper for Christmas, it was no different from getting a colouring book. What do you do when you get a colouring book? You colour it in. I got manuscript paper, so I wrote songs.

What inspired your move from Ireland to Scotland?
The housing crisis and rising cost-of-living had made staying in Ireland feel unrealistic. I was offered a job with Help Musicians in Glasgow mid-pandemic supporting musicians who were facing extreme hardship. Being thrown into the deep end like that gave me a real sense of purpose during a very uncertain time.

Musically, who/what has inspired your songwriting over the years?
I’m drawn to storytellers who bring the listener on a journey through the song. I’m a huge Joni Mitchell fan. Each time I listen, I find a new life lesson in her songs. I’m fascinated by her use of autobiographical narrative: the way something relatable about the human experience can be derived from telling our own stories. I also love punk. My desire for connection is what motivates my songwriting. I'm averse to obscure poeticism or extravagant displays of technical showmanship. What matters to me is whether or not it connects and that’s kind of the punk ethos.

Your debut album is due out at the end of this week. Its songs were written at different stages of your life, so I'd love to know how it felt revisiting them?
It was like having the person I was when I wrote each song in the room with me. I’ve always dreamed of making an album, and it was nice to feel that growth between who I am now and who I was then: to be able to turn to my past self and say, “look, you’re doing it!"

What was it about this particular collection of songs that made you want to package them together into an album? Is there something that connects them?
It was very intuitive. The selection of songs and the track order hasn’t changed since I first drafted the tracklist. The connector is the songwriting style itself. As we move through different life experiences, we can become more guarded but songwriting is the one place where I've never felt the need to have any defences up. I wanted to capture that transparency on the album.

The album's closing song, Is Do Ghrá, was the first song you wrote in Irish as a teenager. What does the title mean and why do you still feel so connected to it?
Is Do Ghrá means "it's your love". It's about how I imagined love to be as a teenager: you have a devil-may-care attitude towards love and it's something that makes you feel completely free. It's so much fun to play live because it reawakens that fearlessness in me every time.

Originally written for voice and acoustic guitar, arrangements across the album are fuller and with more intricacies. What was that process like? What was it like working with Ciaran, Francis, Chris and Alessandra, and how did working with the four of them come about?
I usually hear the production in my mind as I’m writing so I knew where I wanted to take the songs. We're all close friends who've known each other for a while so we have a shorthand. I can say, "I want this to sound like mist encircling Arthur’s Seat" and they just get it. They each approach their instruments with such unique artistic intention; I knew working together would not only be good fun, but would bring out the best in the songs.

You're launching the album with a special headline show at The Caves next month. What can people expect on the night?
It’s my first gig with the full band so expect high energy! I'm interested in working across artforms to build immersive worlds around the music I make. I've invited performers to respond to the music through physical theatre, devising pieces that envelop the audience in the world of each song to create a multi-sensory experience.

Beyond the album release and launch show, what does the rest of the year have in store for you?
I’m going on my first ever tour, playing shows across the UK and Europe. I’ve already written my next project so I’m keen to get back into the studio again by the end of the year.

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The Well is released on 20 Mar; Étain plays The Caves, Edinburgh, 16 Apr

Follow Étain on Instagram @thisisetain