Niall Horan has hailed Damien Rice as one of the biggest influences on his career, saying he changed how he approaches music.
Horan noted Rice's 2002 album O as a particularly big influence on him, saying Rice’s approach is "beaten into my subconscious".
"Just listening to his voice, how simple but effectively he uses it, the wrenching way he delivers a certain note, struck me," Horan wrote for Independent.co.uk.
"Songs of mine like Flicker and Paper Houses… Rice's approach is beaten into my subconscious, particularly that style of finger-picking on the acoustic guitar. He also changed the way I actually record albums - I try not to be quite so obsessive about everything going in exactly the right place.
"Ed Sheeran does the same - if you listen to his first album, +, it's so influenced by Rice. If you hear a vocal crack on the song it's because he left it in on purpose."
Horan continued to say he often turns to the album when he is struggling to relax on airplanes.
"The way each song unfolds, those lush melodies, and how he'll go from this really low murmur into a cry that rips your heart into pieces," he said.
"Coming from Ireland, obviously I was raised on that singer-songwriter tradition, but Rice is the one who's always stood out for me. Him and the Eagles - those are my two biggest influences."
