Last week, Irish singer-songwriter Orla Gartland announced her first-ever North American tour — and nearly all of the shows immediately sold out, with the Toronto gig even getting a venue upgrade. So it seems like I'm not the only one who's excited!
Predictably, Gartland has now confirmed the upcoming release of her sophomore album, which she's previewing today with new single "The Hit."
Everybody Needs a Hero swoops into action on October 4 via the artist's own New Friends imprint. It follows 2021's Woman on the Internet, and was recorded between her home studio in London and Devon's Middle Farm Studios with producers Tom Stafford and Peter Miles.
As per Gartland's latest email newsletter, the LP is about "navigating the currents" of a long-term relationship. "I was thinking a lot about my experience of moving through the world as a woman and about manually fighting the instinct to make myself small," the artist explained. "Somewhere along the way I realized how important it feels to be loud, brave & uncompromisingly ME and I can proudly say this record is all of those things."
She added of the new track, "'The Hit' taps into the good and bad of feeling deep empathy for another, when you're so close to somebody that you take on their struggles and start to become the same person. It's like a voodoo doll thing… you're so connected it hurts. It's a nice gesture, because you're admitting you care about that person so much that when they're in pain you feel it too, but there's a point that it can go too far and that's just not healthy or sustainable."
Listen to "The Hit" blend blithe melodicism with the heft of the subject matter below, and pre-order Everybody Needs a Hero here.