It’s the day of Cian Ducrot’s huge homecoming concert at Musgrave Park. The rugby stadium with a capacity of 15,000 is sold out and even though he doesn’t play for several hours, fans are already queuing in the drizzle, clad in red Cork bandanas. I hear them sing 'I’ll Be Waiting', as I head into the venue to speak to the man himself.

He stands to shake my hand warmly as I congratulate him on his success. His debut album, Victory, peaked at number one in both Ireland and the UK upon its initial release in August 2023.

“This year, I’m hoping to finish a second album that I’m really happy with,” he tells me. “I’m having a really good time touring and trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Take it in, be present. That’s kind of the goal.”

Cian Ducrot at Virgin Media. Copyright Trevor McGrath.

Choirs play a huge part in Ducrot’s music and background. Three days after releasing Victory, he shared a deluxe version, Victory (With Choir And Strings). The project, as the title suggests, featured eight of his debut LP's tracks re-recorded with a choir and orchestral arrangements.

“It gives me goosebumps,” he beams. “Whether it’s a choir or harmonies, whether it’s me singing ten times on a recording or I’m with some friends.”

He leans forward and uses his hands in an attempt to articulate the feeling, describing the sound as “luscious”.

“I’ll record each melody ten times and move on without listening. I won’t hear anything until I finish. Then I unpack them and press play and hear sixty voices. I’m always like, ‘Wow, that sounds so cool!’

“It gives me a euphoric kind of feeling. That’s one of my favourite emotions and you can only get it from music.”

Cian Ducrot at Virgin Media. Copyright Trevor McGrath.

Born and raised in Cork by his French mother, who is a concert pianist, Ducrot subsequently studied the flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Despite his classical training in England, his Irish accent still shines through in his songs.

“It’s something that is very natural to me,” he says. “I’m lucky I don’t have the strongest Irish speaking accent so it translates well in the music, but there was a long time where I didn’t sing with an Irish accent.

“We grow up listening to so much American music and British music, so you naturally learn to sing like that. You hear people - especially Irish people - singing with an American or English twist and it’s not necessarily unnatural because your brain uses a different part for singing than it would for speaking.

“I remember making a video where I had an Irish accent while singing. I listened back and went, ‘I kind of like that!’ It felt different, more ‘me.’ Then it became really natural and I fell in love. I felt it helped me find my voice and sing in a way more suited to myself.”

I mention how, in another interview, Ducrot described it as difficult to “identify as Irish.” He explains his experience of growing up half-French and half-Irish.

“It’s strange,” he reflects. “I grew up in Ireland but my single mom, who is French, raised me and my brother, so we were brought up in a French way. For a long time I didn’t realise how Irish I was.

“I speak fluent Irish, went to an Irish school, I played Irish traditional music, my stepdad is Irish and I have so much love for Ireland but there was just this strange… thing.”

He fiddles with his rings, fingernails painted pink.

“People would call me and my brother ‘The French kids’ and then in France we’d be called ‘The Irish kids’. It was hard to identify with either place."

So, what was it that connected him to his Irish identity?

“It wasn’t until I left Ireland and spent some time away that I realised how Irish I was,” he says earnestly. “You go to a place like England where it’s the same language and you would assume it’d be so similar to Ireland, but you start to notice things that are so Irish about you.

“Growing up playing traditional music, playing in bars and pubs and gigging and busking – all that stuff is not found in many other places in the world. As I started to play shows build a fan base here, and as people in Ireland started to support me, there was this very special feeling. I finally felt like I belonged.”

Cian Ducrot at Virgin Media. Copyright Trevor McGrath.

What’s Ducrot’s ideal listening experience? He sets the scene.

“If I really love a song that I’ve written, I go to bed, turn all the lights off and put my headphones on. It takes you into this world, you’re transported to another place. It’s dark but the music is colouring everything, it’s such an amazing experience.

“It’s really interesting to hear the all the choices that have been made. There’s so much that goes into it that I think people take for granted.”

Now that he’s home, what’s the first thing he’s going to do after the concert?

“I’ve got loads of friends and family to see. I had a hot chicken roll earlier, which is my favourite thing about Ireland, probably,” Ducrot says.

“And then, a couple pints of Murphy’s? Although my grandmother told me before I left that I’m after getting fat. She used her two words of the day to tell me I put on some weight in French, and I was like ‘Fuck you Grandma!’”

As the interview ends on a light hearted note, I thank Cian for his time and walk out of the ground past the ever-growing queue of supporters, who are still singing. What a choir of voices he’ll hear tonight.