"I'm influenced by the life all around me," he says. "By the people all around me. By the music scene…It's such a great scene in Cambridge and Somerville, how can you not be influenced by it?"

After a year away from playing in the US, Saul returns for a couple rare shows at The Precinct in Union Square on Friday and Dec. 6.

Dressed in jeans and a rough zip-up jacket, Saul shies away from naming his favorite bands or even styles of music. "I like all music that turns me on," he says. Indeed, this philosophy can be applied to Saul's own music, which is gripping, highly original and powerfully eclectic.

Saul's music has influences from all different genres, styles and ideas. Perhaps some of this can be traced back to his own cultural heritage. Born and raised in Drumconrath, Ireland, Saul moved to Boston in 1995.

He says that although his homeland still has a huge influence on his music, so too does his adopted country of America. "There's definitely both an Irish and American feel to what I'm doing," he says. "It's floating out there somewhere in the Mid-Atlantic."

Although he has taken a year's break from playing in this country, Saul just got back from a big show in Ireland in September, where he played alongside Irish celebrity Jack L.

Saul deserved a break in America. Last April, he released his debut album One Town Tasted to high success. The album release concert at The Paradise Lounge sold out in advance and had to turn over a hundred hopefuls away at the door. Saul followed that with a two-week tour around his home country of Ireland last May, and then took a break from gigging for a while. Saul says the break has been good for his creativity.

"In 2007 I was writings lots of bits and pieces but never finished a song," he says. "Since the break, I've just been writing loads."

Saul says he is now working towards his next album, which he hopes to have done by next summer.

"It's good to have a timeline for it, but I don't want to force it too much," he says. He can affirm there will be lots of new songs at the upcoming Precinct shows. And his new material shows off some new skills.

"In the past my songs were all about relationships with people around me," Saul says. "I still write about that, but now they're becoming more about what's going on in the world as well."

Saul will be playing the nights at The Precinct with long-time bandmate Andrea Gaudette on the piano. The duo will be playing the rare acoustic shows straight through from 8-10pm. "I just want people to come out and enjoy the show and the music," Saul says. "A show is an event in itself. It's about strong camaraderie. It's not just a performance, it's the whole social coming together before and after."