Ezra Pounds RTÉ’s Rising List

Pic: Euphoria

aking anti-pop music in a “glorified garden shed”, Greystones teenager Ezra Williams has just made RTÉ’s Rising list for 2022.

Pic: Irish Independent

Or, to be more precise, Smoothboi Ezra has made the list.

With the once-towering NME also tipping the multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter for the toppermost of the poppermost, this timely push by 2FM over the coming months might just see Ezra break on through.

Fontaines DC

The fact that inclusion on the Rising list comes with a €10,000 bursary might come in handy too.

An artist development initiative between 2FM and IMRO, it’s worth noting that previous Rising contenders include Fontaines DC, Pillow Queens and Wild Youth.

Nineteen, autistic and non-binary, Ezra’s chosen pronoun is ‘they’. Oh, and when talking to the NME in November 2020, Ezra informed the English music bible that Greystones is mainly “a town for older people, with a lots of trinket shops and health food places. It definitely isn’t the best place to hang out as a teenager; there’s not many places to go.

“There’s a playground, but then you get done for loitering…”

Yowsa.

When it comes to categorising their music, Ezra isn’t quite so sure. Which is handy, given that genre isn’t their strong point.

“I don’t really know where I fit in,” Ezra told the NME, “because I don’t really know what genre of music I make. I make stuff and if it sounds ok, I’ll release it.”

If only more artists would stick to that cunning plan.

You can find out more on the Smoothboi Ezra website here, YouTube here, Instagram here, Facebook here and TikTok here.

Cover pic by Nicolas O’Donnell for PlecPics.