Aaron Rowe

In an incredible example of fate weaving its magic, this Dublin singer/songwriter owes his breakthrough to not one but two chance meetings with Lewis Capaldi...

- NICK REILLY

ARON ROWE'S origin story feels like the kind of tale any discernible screenwriter would dismiss as unbelievable, and yet it's entirely true. He was playing a regular gig at a Dublin pub last year when Lewis Capaldi walked in while on a stag do and saw him performing. In another twist of fate, their paths would cross again just weeks later at an open mic night in Nashville, where Capaldi introduced him to his best mate, who now happens to be Rowe's manager.

On the surface, it may seem like a serendipitous break, but it came at a time when Rowe had been gigging multiple nights a week and showing off his voice — a velvety rasp of a thing — to barflies across Dublin.

That voice can be heard on his debut single 'Hey Ma', which is both an emotional and vivid tribute to his upbringing on the south side of the city and, more prominently, a reflection on his guilt at leaving home.

It's a thread that runs through 29-year-old Rowe's upcoming music too, with each track defined by rich stories of the characters who shaped his childhood and packed with a huge amount of affection towards their subject.