This Is Emma Hynes

October 2023

Hello, and welcome to my website.

I am a musician, writer and visual artist from Dublin, Ireland, who performs my own songs, prose and poetry, and specialises in photography and film. I hold an MA in Film and Television Studies from Dublin City University, and a BA (Hons) in Film, Literature and Drama from Dublin Business School, both with first class honours.

Music

As an independent artist and singer-songwriter in the alt folk / new folk / indie folk genres, I bring my lifelong passion for music and writing to everything I create.

My third single, The Space Between, came out on Friday 1 July 2022. You can listen to it here.

It follows two celebrated singles; Sometimes, released in February 2022, and Don’t Forget in May 2021.

The Space Between featured in RTÉ Radio 1’s prestigious recommends list for two consecutive weeks, and has been played on programmes such as the Ronan Collins Show, the John Creedon Show, Late Date and Rising Time. It also received airplay on RTÉ 2XM’s The London Ear, and a number of local stations.

Don’t Forget also enjoyed airplay across Ireland, including on RTÉ 2XM and Radio Nova. It was featured and reviewed by Broadsheet.ie, Indie Buddie and Finbar Hoban Presents, and was included in Golden Plec’s Irish Songs You Need to Hear This Week on release. It also made The Nova Guestlist’s Top 100 Irish Songs of 2021.

Sometimes, described by Broadsheet.ie as like “a lost classic by The Carpenters,” received similar airplay and coverage, and was chosen as The Acoustic Yard Radio Show’s Song of the Week on Blues and Roots Radio.

I celebrated the release of all three singles with an intimate night at The Workmans Club, Dublin on Thursday 28 June 2022 where I performed a solo acoustic set of these songs and more, and was joined by three very special guests. Full info here.

In terms of other past performances, my solo act gathered momentum in 2019 with opening slots for Brew in The Workman’s Club, and folk rock two-piece Native Harrow at The Underground Venue. In January 2020, I was the sole support to HAIL THE GHOST on the Whelan’s main stage.

In August 2021, I returned to live performance at SIN É as one of sixteen featured artists at the Dublin Quays Festival. This was followed by a support slot for Dublin power pop band, StereoType at The Grand Social in September.

Writing

As a writer, my work has been published in The Ogham Stone 2020 and Visual Verse: An Anthology of Art and Words, and I have performed readings of my prose and poetry on several occasions at the Irish Writers Centre. In October 2021, I was shortlisted for the inaugural Visual Verse Writing Prize.

Visual Art

In addition to photographing the cover art for each of my three singles, I created my own music videos for Don’t Forget and Sometimes.

My photography was exhibited in Balbriggan as part of Culture Night 2022, and is also on public display in the town square.

As an ekphrastic writer creating work in response to images, my lockdown project, There Are No Fixed Stars, saw me take 40 photographs within 5kms of home and pen 40 pieces inspired by them across 40 days of consecutive level 5 restrictions. You can find out all about it, see the images, a selection of which are below, and read the pieces here.

In 2021 I published a story and film project derived from my last in-person performance at the Irish Writers Centre in February 2020. You can read the story behind The Lost Words here, and watch the film below.

More… 

Performance

After an 18-month hiatus on foot of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was so excited to return to the stage again as part of the fabulous Dublin Quays Festival. The Festival featured an exciting mix of emerging talent and established names performing live over the month of August in four great venues along the banks of Dublin’s River Liffey. My solo set from SIN É can be seen below.

I was also delighted to have been invited to support the brilliant StereoType in front of a live audience at The Grand Social on Friday the 10th of September, and you can see that performance here.

Both events were made possible by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media’s Live Performance Support Scheme.

To find out more about my past performances, and to keep up to date with future gigs, visit my events page.

Taking Cover

While live performances were still an impossibility, I played a number of covers of my favourite songs from home across 2020 and 2021. You can visit my YouTube channel to hear me sing songs by David Bowie, Elliott Smith, Slade, Amy Winehouse, Supergrass, Suede, Dexys Midnight Runners, Manic Street Preachers and more. The latest video in the series is below.

Blogging

You may be surprised to find a large number of Coronation Street related interviews, opinion pieces and reviews on this site, so I thought I’d give a little background to those.

I started populating this website when I entered the second year of my MA in Film and Television Studies with Dublin City University. It was three years after I’d completed my BA (Hons) in Film, Literature and Drama at Dublin Business School, and I thought it would be a good way to get writing about the subjects I was passionate about.

I started with Coronation Street, and by the end of the month was writing for the wonderful Coronation Street Blog with which I have had some invaluable and unforgettable experiences. While there are too many to mention individually here, they have included interviewing the cast and producers, attending exclusive previews, treading both the old and new sets, representing the blog at the UK Blog Awards in London, presenting my research on the show at Regent’s University, London, being interviewed on BBC radio about the programme, and having my work published in Coronation Street Blog: The Book.

In fact, a particularly magical moment was finding my writing on the shelves in the Salford Museum and Art Gallery in Manchester. It was also very fitting that this was on a trip to visit an exhibition dedicated to Corrie’s creator, Tony Warren. As above, you’ll find this site filled with reviews, experiences, interviews, and opinions regarding the programme, so if you’re a fan, I hope you enjoy them.
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Thank you for reading!

Emma Hynes
www.emmahynes.net

Social Media
Twitter: @ThisIsEmmaHynes
Instagram: @ThisIsEmmaHynes
Facebook: ThisIsEmmaHynes
YouTube: Emma Hynes

Music
Bandcamp
Spotify
Apple Music
Soundcloud
YouTube Music