Exploring struggles on both a personal and societal scale – as well as the overlap between the two –Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin reckons that his debut album, The Deepest Breath, has been shaped by the age-old guidance: “You write what you know.”

A member of Skipper’s Alley and a renowned, award-winning collaborator, the Dublin singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has been deeply influenced by the music that runs in his family. His sisters Muireann, formerly of Mongoose, and Saileog Ní Cheannabháin also appear on the album, as both musicians and sources of inspiration.

“Both Muireann and Saileog would have a big influence on my music,” he reflects. “There was always loads of music in our house. My dad’s a sean-nós singer, and he plays a bit of whistle and concertina, and my mam’s a classical violinist.

“I grew up singing sean-nós songs, and I’d listen to a lot of old singers,” he adds. “The foundation of it influences what I write – the style, the melodies and sometimes the rhyming schemes.”

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

But Eoghan’s life is intertwined as much with activism and politics, through his involvement in People Before Profit, as it is with music. As such, he doesn’t shy away from addressing some of the harsher realities of modern life on his new album. But this isn’t your standard collection of sloganeering protest songs – with Eoghan instead exploring something much subtler.

“You can try and write political songs that are manifestos – but often they don’t make for very good music,” he laughs. “What I try to do is express something that resonates with people, or gets a feeling across. You can trip over yourself, trying to say everything.”

That’s not to say he doesn’t believe in the revolutionary power of music.

“The songs won’t make a revolution – but you won’t make a revolution without songs,” he asserts. “Look at the great songs that have come out over the last little while, like some of Lankum or Lisa O’Neill’s stuff. They’re brilliant at it. It’s also in the context of the artist getting influenced by the movement. And then, the song reflects back on society. There’s an interplay between the two.”

Politics is a world Eoghan first entered around seven years ago, initially around anti-racism activism, and protesting against direct provision.

“There’s been a big politicisation of our generation,” he notes. “The kind of politics and social change that I think we need is lots of people getting organised and working together, no matter what their backgrounds are. I think ordinary people have the capacity to fight to change things. That doesn’t mean that it will automatically happen, but I think that it’s possible.”

The album’s title track, he explains, is about “reclaiming dreams” in the face of ongoing injustices, when music or art can seem comparatively unimportant.

“When I was growing up, you’d hear a lot of, ‘You can do anything you set your mind to!’ Or, ‘Follow your dreams!’" he says. "All that kind of thing ignores a lot of the structural, societal issues that are going on.

“But I’m also not a pessimist,” he adds. “So I think we need to win these things back.”

Another highlight from the album, ‘Only The Earth’, is also imbued with that defiant spirit, as he condemns the destruction of the natural world at the hands of “moneyed men.”

“The song gets its name from a James Connolly quote: ‘Our demands most moderate are: we only want the earth,’” Eoghan explains. “A lot of the environmental activists are now getting involved in stuff around the cost of living – because those should be seen as the same thing.

“I think a lot of people feel climate anxiety now,” he adds. “I was trying to get some of that across as well – without, again, being too pessimistic!”

The Deepest Breath is out now.