Galway artist Niamh Regan released her second album Come As You Are on May 31. On this episode we talk through all 10 of its tracks, as well as a not-very-secret hidden track, plus some of the fun things that she's experienced since releasing debut album Hemet in 2020.
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From the press release: Since its release, Niamh has embarked on headline tours from Ireland, to UK, Australia, Spain + more. Pairing this with many festivals and a variety of support opportunities with artist such as CMAT, Villagers, John Grant, SOAK, Patrick Watson, Sam Amidon, Cormac Begley, and Sorcha Richardson.

In between her performances, Niamh began to write her second record in Attica Studios with producer Tommy McLaughlin. She says, ‘I arrived in Donegal to meet Tommy for the first time with a bunch of demos, half-baked ideas and feeling not ready, it was scary. But I’m so glad that I did it that way. Trusted the process and came into the studio with the intention of capturing exactly where I was with it all and Tommy helped me build from there.’

And here we are, with the release of that second album, titled ‘Come As You Are’. It’s an album full of acutely observed vulnerabilities and introspection. Its themes are the issues that many of us find loom large in the small hours: questions of self-doubt, uncertainty about your life’s direction, whether relationships are flourishing in the way you’d hoped and determining priorities.

“A lot of it is about being in your late twenties and kind of realising we’re all running out of time,” she ponders. “I’d have bouts of massive self-belief in the studio, and then in the next breath I would be like, ‘This is the worst piece of music I could have even imagined.’ It was a rollercoaster. But through that I found self-acceptance; this is where I’m at and making peace with that. That’s what the album essentially is, just making peace with where I’m at and being realistic with myself.”
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Niamh Regan tour dates:
June 13: Windmill Live Show w/James Vincent McMorrow, Dublin (solo)
June 16: Doolin Folk Festival (full band)
July 16: Galway International Arts Festival (full band)
July 25: Song Room, Wexford (solo)
August 2: All Together Now
August 12: Kilkenny Arts Festival (solo)
August 17: Electric Picnic (solo)
November 14: Cyprus Avenue, Cork (full band)
November 15: Liberty Hall Theatre, Dublin (full band)
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Buy Niamh Regan - Come As You Are: https://niamhregan.bandcamp.com/album/come-as-you-are