Jersey born / Irish singer-songwriter TADHG DALY shares his TOP TEN favourite songs

Jersey born / Irish singer-songwriter TADHG DALY shares his TOP TEN favourite songs
Credit: Samuel Taylor

Today, Jersey-born / Irish singer and songwriter Tadhg Daly releases his new EP ‘Forever Young’. Ahead of the release, Tadhg sat down with XS Noize to share his TOP TEN FAVOURITE SONGS. I’m sure you will agree it’s a diverse selection of classic songs. Listen BELOW:

1 – Naeem – Bon Iver
Bon Iver has always been a big influence on my writing, and I often find myself in writing sessions thinking, “what would Justin Vernon do?”. This song is produced and arranged so beautifully, and we took a lot of inspiration from it for the EP. The use of horns in the song is so sick, so we tried to emulate that on the title track, “Forever Young”.

2 – Lover, You Should Have Come Over – Jeff Buckley
Ugh. It’s just so good. Like impossibly good. I don’t know what else to say about it, really, other than it changed my life when I first heard it.

3 – I Forget Where We Were – Ben Howard
I think this is my favourite song of all time. There is such intense emotion and energy from it that had gripped me from when I first heard it on its release day in 2014 to now seven years later. This one really acted as a catalyst for change in me and how I viewed songwriting and helped shape the artist I’m trying to become now.

4 – The Taste of Ink – The Used
The Used are my favourite band of all time, so I had to include a track of theirs! This song is something I always put on in the studio when I’m stuck for inspiration or ideas. It’s so upbeat sounding but emotionally raw, and that’s a lot of what I’ve been trying to bring to my newer writing.

5 – Love You For A Long Time – Maggie Rogers
I love Maggie Rogers so much, and her lyrics blow me away! My favourite line in the track is “if devotion is a river, then I’m floating away”… How great is that? I don’t know exactly what I even mean by this, but her music feels important? Haha, maybe that’s over the top, but it does feel that way to me. I think people need to hear what she has to say.

6 – The Last Great American Dynasty – Taylor Swift
I was listening to “Folklore” a lot during the recording of this EP, and this song in particular really inspires me. I love the lyrics, and the story is told in such a clever way. The production is unreal, too, so big up, Aaron Dessner!

7 – River – Leon Bridges
This was our main reference for the acoustic guitars in “My Town. It’s just a beautiful song, and the whole thing sounds so organic and raw. Leon Bridges also uses many gospel-style BV’s in his music, which inspired the backing vocals on “Still not made it”.

8 – Exile – Taylor Swift (feat. Bon Iver)
This is one of my favourite songs of the last five years, easily! It was a huge inspiration to the writing on my EP. The lyrics, the piano and the performances kill me every time I listen.

9 – Overkill – Holly Humberstone
This track came out around the time we were about to record the EP if I remember correctly, and I love it instantly. It reminds me of a Bruce Springsteen song, and the production is great. It feels like once the song starts, it just goes on this continuous journey, and the beat is relentless.

10 – An Evening I Will Not Forget – Dermot Kennedy
I’m a big fan of Dermot Kennedy, and I had the album on repeat when it came out. This song blows me away. The lyrics and melodies are an absolute madness, and the production is stuuuunnning. If anyone hasn’t listened to this song yet, then please go right now and do it and make sure it’s the album version. It’s gotta be the album version, not the original demo. I’ve never referenced it in a session, but this song just makes me want to be a better writer and artist.

Throughout the last year, Tadhg Daly has been in pursuit of creating a more adventurous and textured approach to the alt-pop sound, and this is exactly what we can expect to hear on his new collection ‘Forever Young’. The new five-track EP looks to tell his own unique tale of overcoming adversity and battling personal demons, all of which have led him towards a career in music as he looks to present himself in a raw and more intimate guise.

Adding his thoughts on the new EP, he said, “As an EP, “Forever Young” is a re-telling of the journey I’ve been on from being a real shy kid growing up on a small Island, to losing my way completely as a teenager and then trying desperately to turn my life around and create something for myself as an artist in London. Each song is incredibly close to my heart and I’m so proud of the end result. Writing and recording these songs with some of my best friends was the most cathartic process in some ways and in others, an incredibly painful walk through feelings and memories I had pent up for years, though ultimately I feel like so much weight has been lifted from me now that they are finished. I wrote and recorded it with my 2 producers and close mates Dustin Dooley and Andy Hall-Hall during the lockdown in 2020 and I think how dearly we all care about the songs is what has made them so special for me and allowed them to be heard in the way that I had hoped. Although this is my debut EP and in many ways the first chapter of my music career, it really feels like closing the door on a lot of negativity, trauma and insecurities I’ve carried with me for years and I really hope it can give some other people a sense of peace when they listen to the record.”

Now listen to Tadhg Daly’s fantastic new EP ‘Forever Young’- BELOW:

DISCOVER TADHG DALY

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Xsnoize Author
Mark Millar is the founder of XS Noize and looks after the daily running of the website as well as hosting interviews for the weekly XS Noize Podcast. Mark's favourite album is Achtung Baby by U2.

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