This Album Changed My Life: The Velvet Underground and Nico

I was 15 when I first heard The Velvet Underground and Nico. I had seen images of Debbie Harry, Nico and Edie Sedgwick hanging out at Andy Warhol's The Factory and was completely entranced by that whole scene. Their lives looked so wild and glamorous but New York looked beaten up and neglected and reminded me of parts of Limerick. It made me feel like anything was possible creatively despite not being in paradise. I wanted to run away and join them but I was 40 years too late and living on the wrong side of the Atlantic.

This album perfectly captures the freedom, creativity and grittiness of its time. The beauty and purity of the honest lyrics, delicate melodies and ragged guitars have the power to hurt.

What we try to employ from The Velvet Underground is their style, and the courage to celebrate imperfections and the ambition to represent our story in place and time, while exposing our flaws. I won’t ever stop listening to this album and if you haven’t heard it before I think you should as it will lift you from the darkness and make you appreciate everyday life and human unconventionality.

Whenyoung's latest single Pretty Pure is out now on Yala! Records