Irish musician Laura Sheeran – one of my favourite musicians at the moment and a woman whose live shows are simply mesmerising – has become the first person in the Republic of Ireland to start a Pledge Music account.

This is a way of helping Laura to release her debut full-length album proper as well as a means for fans to access exclusive material. To find out more, simply visit Laura’s Pledge Music site and have a look at what you need to do to take part. Here’s how Laura herself explains it:

Hello dear friends!
My debut double album “Lust of Pig and the Fresh Blood” has been in development for almost 4 years now and is ready for final mixing, mastering and pressing. By making a pledge you can help this happen. You will also have an opportunity to get exclusive access to a wide variety of irresistible extras (check out that list – there’s some interesting stuff there!), as well as receiving a free download of the double album on release so that you can listen to it while you wait for hard copy goods to arrive in the post. Note – this freebie is for pledgers only. With your valued support providing the final push, the double album will be released in September on CD, vinyl and as a digital download. So if you like what you’ve heard of my material so far, take the pledge – help me give birth to this baby! A percentage of all pledges will be donated to De Paul Ireland, a totally worthwhile and necessary organisation that has been making a big difference to the lives of many.

The thing is that all the pledges need to be made in the next 47 days or the pledge project won’t go ahead. The music project will go ahead anyway but the pledge project would really help it off the ground.

I saw Laura perform at The Exchange last week, as one of the support acts – alongside the wonderful Squarehead and Patrick Kelleher – for former Beat Happening frontman, Calvin Johnson. Calvin made some remarks about Laura during his set, but they weren’t negative comments, more about how she is very different when performing on stage to talking to the audience between songs.

For me, one of the wonderful things about Laura is how she can switch between being a focused, bewitching singer with a huge voice to a quirky, funny young woman while setting up between songs. I love that – it’s so fun and engaging. Her songs are so deep and dark, and yet when she makes little mistakes or gets excited about choosing her next track, she’s almost childlike (I mean that in a positive way). She has a really strong energy and charisma and her joy while performing is infectious.

Performers are often expected to be detached or ‘above’ their audience, but she draws them in by just being herself. That, to me, is what is so special about her shows – and the fact her voice sends shivers up my spine!

(Laura recently joined Twitter, say hello here.)