There are songwriters who wear their hearts on their sleeve, and there are songwriters who hide behind metaphor and analogy. With his debut album, Cian Ducrot sets his stall firmly in the former camp. A former student of classical flute, the Cork native mines personal trauma (much of it related to his difficult childhood and estranged father) and turns it into musical gold.

There’s a chance you’ve already seen his viral TikTok videos, where a flashmob choir joins him in serenading unsuspecting commuters or cafe patrons. Yet Ducrot is more than a marketing whizz; many songs here, such as Hurt When You Hurt Me and Everyone Who Falls in Love, display his innate understanding of melody. He’s an assured storyteller, too, as heard on Him and the pacy piano-led ballad Blame It on Me, while the half-sung, half-rapped vocal style of the title track ticks the Ed Sheeran/Dermot Kennedy fan boxes.

Ducrot’s tendency toward earnestness occasionally comes off as mawkish, but there is no doubting the sentiment behind songs such as Heaven, a paean to his older brother, and Step Dad, a touching tribute with the lyrics “You’ll always have my love/ I know I’m not a part of you, but what’s blood?”

Ducrot’s default setting may be wistful melancholia, but the soaring balladry of I’ll Be Waiting, Part of Me and All for You have mass-singalong appeal. With this impressively accomplished debut under his belt, international success deserves to follow.