The musician with 14 aliases and millions of listeners

Liam McCay is possibly best known as Sign Crushes Motorist, although he has released music under a variety of names

Liam McCay was driving down Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles with a friend from Ireland when it set in just how different his life had become.

"We could see the Hollywood sign, and we were like, 'this is mental'," the 20-year-old from County Donegal told BBC News NI.

Just two years ago he was working part-time at a restaurant in his hometown of Buncrana, creating music in his spare time.

Now his songs, which he releases under a variety of aliases, have garnered millions of monthly listeners on streaming platforms.

It all started in his childhood bedroom, where he began creating songs under the name Moon Water while still a teenager at school.

"My plan was I would just keep the one name and then I got kind of bored and I started making this other wee thing," he said.

"And I was like, God, this doesn't really fit the sort of the vibe of the other one. So I says, I'll not put it under that, I'll do it under a new name."

Liam began making music from his bedroom in Buncrana

That process continued and he now has 14 aliases under which he releases music.

He is possibly best known as Sign Crushes Motorist and for making slowcore tracks.

Slowcore is a subgenre of indie rock characterised by its slow tempos, minimal arrangements, and melancholic atmosphere.

Sign Crushes Motorist currently has about 2.2m monthly listeners on Spotify, while another of his projects, Take Care has about 2.4m.

He said the majority of his projects may sound similar to people who do not listen to that style of music, but added that he also explores different genres.

"To me, they're all kind of different, they all have their own different vibes and stuff," he said.

"But I have everything. I love making different types of music, I have acoustic stuff, the slowcore stuff - I rap the odd time. It's nice to make whatever."

Liam shared his music on servers and forums for new musicians

He started releasing music in 2021 when he was 16, but largely kept his creative endeavours a secret, choosing to put his songs online rather than sharing it with people in his personal life.

He spent time on servers and forums for new musicians sharing their work and looking for feedback.

"I was doing the most nerdy stuff to try and get it out there. Just hoping someone would hear it," he said.

"It was a bit embarrassing because it wasn't cool music, and I was also like whingeing about this girl or whatever. So, I wasn't really wanting to show people."

Gradually people started listening.

By 2023 several of his tracks had taken off, with one peaking at number three on Billboard's now defunct TikTok top 50 chart which ranked the most popular songs on the platform.

'This is good craic'

It was a trip to the US to collaborate with other artists which convinced Liam to make music full time

Despite Liam's success and growing number of fans, he was happy to keep his music as a hobby, even as the money started to trickle in.

"I didn't go mental or anything and buy like a sports car," he said.

"I was making a decent amount of money. I could have lived off of it, but I said no it'll sort of lose the magic. It'll just be a nice hobby to do in the evenings."

When Liam finished his school exams he went to university in Belfast to study computer science.

While he said he enjoyed the university experience and was doing well on his course, he realised he did not enjoy it as much as making music.

After a couple of trips to the US which saw him collaborate with other artists, he decided to make a career out of his music.

"So after that, I was like, 'this is good craic' I really want to do this as much as I can," he said.

Liam recently released an album under the name Dead Calm

Liam dropped out of further education after his first year and has since moved to Los Angeles in California where he has been performing live gigs.

He recently released an album under the name Dead Calm.

"That's kind of acoustic, that'll be the one I'll be doing all the gigs for. Because it's just like the most kind of upbeat. That's a lot of fun to do," he said.

Liam said he wants to do "everything" and would like to one day try his hand at acting or filmmaking - but for now will continue to make new music.

He said he has had plenty of offers from labels but is happy enough as an independent artist.

Examples of other names he goes by are Miserable Teens Club, scm48 and Carson Clay.

He said people in the industry have advised him against using so many aliases. They say he could become more popular if he put all his music under one name.

"I'll never put them all under one, but I'll definitely slow down in making new ones," he said.

Liam added that for fans, it can be fun trying to track down all his music.

"It's not like I hide them but it sometimes takes people a while to find them," he said.

"The idea of having to go and search them out, it definitely adds a wee something."