Every now and again an artist comes along whose work makes your stomach flip, their music a roundhouse blow to the compartment of your body marked "Fragile" and "Emotions". Freya Ridings is one of them. Armed with just a piano, her music would draw tears from a stone, nay, a boulder on the driest, crumbliest patch of rock in the Grand Canyon. The 23-year-old's combination of youth and talent will certainly make you assess your own achievements so far.
The London singer sees and feels an awful lot more than the average person. To paraphrase Kelly Clarkson's A Moment Like This, some people wait a lifetime to grasp emotions the way she does. And that's why she's our VBF. She's the all-seeing, all-feeling eye, and we're just half-filled glass cages of emotion.
Ridings has two atmospheric live albums – Live at Omeara, from this year, and Live at St Pancras Old Church, from 2017 – on Spotify. On them her voice hollows out like those of Hannah Reid, of London Grammar, and Florence Welch.
She doesn't do many covers in her live set, but she does take on Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Maps – bravely, as it's a big risk to toy around with something that is already so perfect. She doesn't try to outdo the indie-punk New Yorkers, but as she slows the song down she just adds her own emotional angle to this clawing love. On Castles you can relive her heartbreak, which eventually leads to a new form of strength. "That I'm gonna build castles from the rubble of your love," she sings, "I'm gonna be more than you ever thought I was."
Although Ridings has yet to release a studio album, her live performances of well-crafted songs like Lost Without You and Blackout can assign a unique feeling to each goosebump on your arm.
Luckily for us, we have three chances to hear Ridings in Dublin this week. She is supporting Ray Lamontagne on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, and she has her own (sold-out) gig at Upstairs in Whelan's on Thursday. If tickets for all three passed you by, find Ridings on Spotify, press play and give your heartstrings a stretch.
