Scheduled to play Vicar St. on September 29 and currently garnering plaudits for her new Sing record, Maria Doyle Kennedy has revealed to Hot Press that's she's already planning her next collection of songs.

According to the actress and singer, the work will be inspired by the characters in Kevin Barry's acclaimed City Of Bohane novel.

Maria says: "I’ve little bits of ideas that are percolating at the moment. I’ve been inspired by Barry’s novel, City Of Bohane. I just read it a couple of months ago and, oh my god, the characters! And it’s so incredibly vivid and the description of everybody’s clothes! You know they’re wearing these dirk belts, knives…these words some of which are made-up, which you’re sure that you’ve been using or reading forever. The characters are just so vivid to me. Girly, the old woman, is like a Miss Havisham, but so fucked-up. I’ve been really inspired by that and am starting to write songs about them. I don’t know where that’ll go, but I’m quite excited about it."

The full interview can be found in the new issue of Hot Press (Script cover), on sale Thursday September 6.