“I’ve been a fan since I was a teenager in boarding school. In fact, I can pinpoint the very first time I heard him. We were staying in a friend’s flat on a weekend break, and someone put on a cassette of ‘Sisters Of Mercy’. It was a very beautiful moment. I’d never heard a voice like his – it was like he was in the room with you. It was only later that I came across albums like The Future, and those are the ones I love the most now.
“Like Bob Dylan, Nick Cave and Tom Waits, he sings in his own voice, which sounds truthful and authentic. Even if I sing one of his songs, I’m thinking he’s there – I can hear his voice. Because I’m an obsessive character and I listened to him so much while growing up, I leave him alone for a while, then come back to him. Sometimes I listen for the words, sometimes for the music.
“I got to see him in Kilmainham and it was so beautiful – a spiritual experience. He was so humble and the whole thing was utterly transforming. A lot of his songs are in the first person and there’s an intimacy to them. You could sing a Leonard Cohen song without any instruments, just a capella, and it would still sound good. They’re like mini-plays, in that they’re thought-provoking, but they’re never resolved.
“Sometimes his songs take a little bit of time to grow on you, but the choruses are always very simple. He’s a bit of a conjurer in that way – he can hook you in. One of my favourite songs is probably ‘Anthem’. That line, “There is a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in” is so beautiful, it gets me every time. It’s kind of telling us that nothing is perfect and that you’re always striving.
“He had a dignity, he was a learned man and quite sensual. The fedora hat, the smirk – he just seemed to exude some kind of humbleness. And he didn’t seem to be impressed by fame. Even at 82, any girl will tell you that they would have been his girlfriend. I’m not a fan of the beautiful love song with the picket-fence view on life; I’m more into the melancholy side of things. You could be in a room and be brought to tears by something he wrote. Without sounding ridiculous, any time I feel that my soul needs nourishing, I turn to Leonard Cohen.”

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