Up until the start of this year there was chatter from the dogs on the streets that Dublin singer-songwriter Gavin James had left it too late to capitalise on his grassroots following – where, oh where was his debut album?

And yet as the year draws to a close, James is mates with Ed (Sheeran), has supported Sam (Smith) in the US, and followed up sold-out shows at Whelan’s with dates in January at the Olympia Theatre.

And there is proof on Bitter Pill that James has enough emotionally depth- charged tunes in his back pocket to take him from here to the top of the charts and back again.

His approach may not be the subtlest – there are songs that could benefit from less emotive sky scraping – but they are rammed to the rafters with hooks and melody lines. Those dogs? They know nothing.