Aoife Moriarty comes from a family of high-achievers. Her father is a pilot, her mother an artist, her brother a noted jazz musician. But this can be a mixed blessing – if all of your immediate relatives are stellar successes, is there a danger you might end up feeling a failure?

Fortunately, Moriarty has no need to worry, as her debut long-player, Dolls and Jigsaws, is a remarkable achievement. The album is a collection of 10 lovingly crafted songs that conveys a remarkable maturity in both its musical and lyrical vision. Moriarty’s influences are many and varied, ranging from Neil Young’s Harvest to jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, Madonna and even the German painter and engraver Albrecht Durer.
She elaborates: “I was really big into Madonna when I was about eight or nine. Then again, what young girl wasn’t? When I heard Neil Young’s album I felt I wanted to write songs as beautiful as those – and that’s still one of my ambitions. As for Durer – I find the witticisms in his paintings really appeal to me.”
At the risk of sounding like an incorrigible old hack, I can’t resist asking Moriarty whether she prefers dolls or jigsaws? Without hesitation she answers: “Jigsaws. I like the idea of seeing how things fit together and wondering what part goes where.”
Very metaphorical, you might conclude. Aoife, though, sees it somewhat differently. “I want my songs to stand the test of time. I will want to listen to and sing for the rest of my life, so they have to have a lasting quality and a depth.”
She recently completed the MIX music industry course in order to give herself an understanding of the business in which she hopes to carve out a career. “I’ve no illusions as to how hard it can be. But to me, the main thing is to make records I’ll still be proud of if I live to be 88.”

Aoife Moriarty’s single ‘Alphabet Soup’ is available now for download. Her debut album Dolls & Jigsaws will be released in April.