Ailbhe Reddy has taken the slow and steady route to releasing her deeply personal first album. But with its release date delayed due to Covid, and a slew of gigs cancelled, the singer-songwriter is eager to get a reaction to her debut when it is released next week.

Ailbhe Reddy refuses to let the knowledge torture her, but there are times when it pops into her head and it is painful. This month was not supposed to be about social distancing in Dublin; it was supposed to be about playing high-profile support to Paul Weller on a US tour.

In those far-off days before mandatory face-coverings and hand sanitisers at every turn, the singer had been set to release a debut album - eagerly awaited by those enraptured by her singular gifts - as well as play sizeable venues with one of the great British musicians of his era.

"You can't think about it too much," she says over a fizzy drink in a café courtyard in Dublin's Liberties, "because if you did, it would just drive you mad. You just have to look for positives wherever you can find them."

At least Reddy can look forward to the release of her album, Personal History, next weekend. In a year that's seen some excellent Irish debuts, this is right up there - a deeply personal album from a singer-songwriter who has been honing her craft for several years.

Now 29, she first came to a prominence of sorts in the mid-2010s and her rise has been slow and steady. Not for her the temptation to dash off an album quickly. Every song she has released so far has been given time. And plenty of it.

"I wanted to find my voice," she says. "I didn't feel in a rush. It was a case of releasing music I was fully happy with and then giving this album the time it needed."