Orla Gartland's 'Zombie!' Is A Potent Depiction Of Male Emotional Repression

Irish songwriter Orla Gartland has shared powerful new work ‘Zombie!’ – tune in now.

Across a flurry of single releases and EPs the Dublin artist has sketched out a unique palette, worth comparing to Regina Spektor or even Stevie Nicks.

Fluid alt-pop with a dose of honesty, her stark new single ‘Zombie!’ deals directly with male emotional repression.

Produced by Pete Robertson (beabadoobee) and co-produced by Orla herself, it’s a portrait of feelings being scarcely kept in check, until they boil over.

She comments…

‘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.

Lyrically unflinching, ‘Zombie!’ contrasts this with moments of pure beauty – tune in now.

Photo Credit: Karina Barberis

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