Amongst the current crop of young Irish singer-songwriters, no-one stands out quite like Damien Dempsey. Everyone from Sinead O'Connor to Shane MacGowan has been lining up to sing the ex-boxer's praises - and on Seize The Day, his excellent second album, you can see exactly what has them so excited. Quite simply, Dempsey is a genuine street poet, a Celtic Bob Marley who takes inspiration from the sights and sounds of his immediate environment. In gruff Dublin vernacular he raps his way through these gritty tales of urban squalor, railing against the drink culture, the evil of drugs and the myriad hypocrisies of the Celtic Tiger. And just when it all threatens to get a little po-faced, he lightens the mood by dropping in a show-stopping line such as "Christy Moore was an awful hoor". Dempsey's songwriting is still a little rough around the edges and he has some way to go before he's up there with his heroes Luke Kelly and Phil Lynott. But in a scene with its fair share of dreary copyists, his is a truly original voice - and one that deserves to be cherished.

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