Featured Photo Credit: Karina Barberis
“Zombie!,” the new single from singer, songwriter and producer Orla Gartland proves, yet again, Gartland’s unparalleled ability to capture relatable human struggles.
Beginning with a HAIM-esque harmony, Gartland scrutinizes toxic masculinity amidst swirling piano. The melody eventually crescendos with a booming energetic chorus that signifies the release of those built up frustrations around a partner’s repressed feelings.
“’Zombie!’ is about repressing emotions until one day they burst out of you all at once. Specifically it’s about a very common, very male kind of repression I witnessed in a boy I loved once – I could see that he felt things but there was a barrier stopping him from expressing them. I hated that for him, it made me so angry at the societal pressures that led him to that place. For me living “like a zombie” became a metaphor for this way of living; someone so seemingly unemotional on the surface they barely seem alive. I scream my head off in the outro of the song and that scream is meant to feel like a huge release, like the moment you let it all out,” Gartland shared.
“Zombie!,” which was co-written and co-produced by Pete Robertson (Beabadoobee, Nasty Cherry), will appear on Gartland’s debut album due out later this year.