Launching his new EP all round the light said:, County Down troubadour Joshua Burnside returns for his second headline gig at The Empire, Belfast. Joined by local veterans Lambing Season and the newly-signed Brash Isaac, Burnside proves unrivalled in his craft and cements himself as a champion of the NI music scene.

Joshua Burnside emerges solo to perform a more or less acapella ‘Blood Drive’, the opener to tonight’s setlist and incidentally his debut album Ephrata. The song is as beautiful as the gig’s converted church venue, setting the tone for the night ahead. Burnside is visibly at ease on stage, and his effortlessly enchanting vocals are all that is needed to captivate and keep any chatter at the bar to a minimum. He sways wistfully with his guitar as his backing band join him for ‘Grapes’; Burnside’s knack for turning the mundane into the gorgeous in his lyrics – from clean white sheets to getting too drunk – shines through with the almost spoken quality to some of his songs. The array of influences on his sound makes him difficult to pigeonhole, incorporating Latin beats, African rhythms and more traditional Irish underpinnings whilst never losing his accent.