★ ★ ★ ★
In the three years since the release of her debut album, Woman on the Internet, Irish songstress Orla Gartland has amassed an impressive amount of career streams (hedging a quarter billion!), sold out leagues of headlining shows, and played prestigious festivals like Reading and Leeds, Electric Picnic, and even Glastonbury. With this new record, Everybody Needs a Hero, she continues to prove exactly why this industry needs her: she's not afraid to lean into what other artists might naturally lean away from, from uncomfortable topics to production styles.
Though this record is one in which she is outlining the rise and fall of her recent long-term relationship as well as how she struggled with finding her own independence, on opening ballad 'Both Can Be True,' Gartland establishes, "Oh, make no mistake, I fucking love you, but this shit is hard." And both can be true! It can be difficult to recognize these things about ourselves, and it's clear that when she threw herself into the creation of this album, these emotions came up, and she was able to work through her grief and anger all at once.
This opening track blends seamlessly into 'SOUND OF LETTING GO,' a much more in-your-face track which wants us to know this record will be anything but modest and unassuming.
“This record is about one relationship and detailing the multitude of feelings I had about that person all at once,” Gartland shared recently with her label. “One feeling doesn’t cancel another out but instead they co-exist; that has been my experience.”
Early singles 'Little Chaos,' 'Late to the Party (feat. Declan McKenna),' and 'Kiss Ur Face Forever' are a genius sampler plate to this album, because, though they are scrumptious, the full meal is infinitely more delectable. Not only are they all total toe-tappers, Gartland also puts words to emotions we all feel, but maybe haven't ever known how to describe: on "Simple," she croons, "Someone said love's a mystery, and they're right / But I can tell you what it feels like / It's a coffee with an old friend / It's a lie-in on the weekend / It's your parents looking at you / Like they're proud of you for once."
This album is one long look in the mirror, painting a lipstick smile on a face you hardly recognize anymore. On "Three Words Away," Gartland describes how happiness and self-sabotage often go hand-in-hand: "On the cusp of greatness, it's the life I waited for / What a pretty privilege, babe, to be in love and bored / And it's sickening, what have I become? / Wouldn't it be awful if it all just came undone?"
In standout track 'Who Am I?' Gartland truly hammers home the thesis of this album: "Been tryna be everything / But I can't be your rock, your lover, your mom / God, I've tried / Now I'm not anything / Just a silhouette of the person I was / If I'm your everything, who am I?" How do we establish - and maintain - who we are when we're with someone long-term? Our lives become completely intertwined; we might have the same friends, the same hobbies, even the same favorite restaurants. So how do we forge any semblance of independence regardless of how much we love this person? And how do we keep this in mind when that relationship ends? This is what Orla Gartland has set out to discover with the inception of this album, and I'd wager that even if that particular question wasn't answered, this album will help you dig up emotions within yourself you didn't know were hidden.
Orla Gartland will soon set out on her first-ever headlining tour of the United States, and if you're luck enough to already have tickets, congrats, because it's completely sold out!
Orla Gartland 2024 Tour Dates
Thursday, November 7th - Arts at the Armory - Somerville, MA - VENUE UPGRADE
Friday, November 8th - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY - SOLD OUT
Saturday, November 9th - Atlantis - Washington, DC - SOLD OUT
Monday, November 11th - Johnny Brenda’s - Philadelphia, PA - SOLD OUT
Wednesday, November 13th - Bar Le Ritz - Montreal, QC - SOLD OUT
Friday, November 15th - Longboat - Toronto, ON - SOLD OUT + VENUE UPGRADE
Saturday, November 16th - Third Man Records - Detroit, MI - SOLD OUT
Sunday, November 17th - Sleeping Village - Chicago, IL - SOLD OUT
Thursday, November 21st - Polaris Hall - Portland, OR - SOLD OUT
Friday, November 22nd - Fox Cabaret - Vancouver, BC - SOLD OUT
Saturday, November 23rd - Barboza - Seattle, WA - SOLD OUT
Monday, November 25th - Rickshaw Stop - San Francisco, CA - SOLD OUT
Tuesday, November 26th - Troubadour - Los Angeles, CA - SOLD OUT
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