Back in mid 2013 was when I first heard the song Roots on YouTube, the sweet acoustic guitar track about your where you call home and where you come from. It lead to me becoming extremely interested in the career of the young Dublin woman.

Orla Gartland started posting covers on YouTube when she was thirteen years old and since then she has developed a strong following among the YouTube community and the wider music family around the world.

2013 would mark a massive step forward in her career with release of the Roots EP, a collection of four meticulously crafted acoustic pop songs where Gartland investigating the transitions from one stage of your life to another. The songs were instantly relatable and seemed to mark the beginning of something special for the performer. The standout track on the EP being the spectacular Human, a brilliant composition exploring how everyday events can seemingly eat away at what makes you feel like yourself.

The momentum from this EP would be continued again in 2015 when Gartland would release her second official EP,  the Lonely People EP. The four songs that would feature on this release would demonstrate a further step in the songwriting of the Dublin girl, and would also contain my favourite song from the performer so far, Whispers.

However, just when things started to be properly taking off for the singer/songwriter, they slowed down a bit. In late 2015, the musician decided to stop releasing music and touring with the intention of spending her time putting more time into actually making music rather than getting distracted by things that were damaging to the creative process.

During this process Gartland began to use music as another means of exploring the anxiety and existential doubt that she was experiencing at the time.

The result… Some of the best music of Gartland’s career up to this point. Songs like Overthinking and Problematic would demonstrate an honesty and a vulnerability that was instantly compelling listening and provided further insight in to life of the Dublin singer/songwriter.

It would mark another step forward in the development of the songwriting.

However, it seems as though Gartland is ready to start releasing new music officially again, and May 2018 would see the beginning of this. I Go Crazy, a song about telling someone that you love them and not hearing it back is nothing infinitely relatable track. This song is excellent.

There is no doubt that Orla Gartland is a songwriter with a natural talent for creating music that captures the emotional struggles and everyday doubts that we all go through in an effective and catchy way. I Go Crazy is reportedly the first in a long line of new music that is coming from the Dublin musician – I for one am very excited.

MK