Exhibit A
Mine - Orla Gartland (Newer Music Friday)
Orla Gartland has had my heart for quite a few years now. She’s been the provider of some of the most beautiful, heart-wrenching songs I’ve ever heard. She’s one of those artists who does the loud angry stuff just as well as she can do the quiet angry stuff. This new song, “Mine” is a low to the ground tune that is Exhibit A for just how well she masters the latter.
Her vocals have always been the heart of her music, at least for me. Gartland has a gorgeous voice that glides over every word, dragging on certain ones just enough to give them the weight needed to really let them land. Even when quiet, there’s this quality to the vocals she provides that have the passion of a megaphone that blasts out to anyone who’ll hear. While a lot of her previous songs have these great stacked harmonies, the single track that’s featured on this one is perfect for the mood, pairing perfectly with the tension-filled crawl of the guitar underneath.
The instrumental is equally as gorgeous, minimalistic in the best way possible. The low tones lend themselves to the sort of sound I’ve labelled as “the melt” — the type of musicality that you can just fall into and be surrounded by, comfortable and safe. The strings are a beautiful addition to the landscape of “Mine”, giving it a deeply mournful sound that resolves itself to be stoically strong by the end.
With “Mine”, Orla Gartland has created a breathtaking track that you can’t just listen to once, a song that’ll live and breathe with you forever and ever. This is a beautifully blooming flower created from thorns, a carefully constructed piece full of exposed honesty that is heart-wrenching and utterly magnificent.
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