UK singer, songwriter, and producer Orla Gartland has unveiled her latest single and music video, “Late To The Party”, featuring artist Declan McKenna. The track comes off the upcoming release of Orla’s second studio album, set for release in October.
Discussing the inspiration behind the single, Orla explains that ‘Late To The Party’ is a big old bratty song about resenting the baggage that people inherit when you love someone and yearning for a time when people were all a blank slate. “I wanted a song on the record that shifted in pace a lot,” Orla adds. “something fun and loud, something indulgent.”
Orla initially developed the song during solo sessions in her studio, laying down the initial tracks while experimenting with drum rhythms and mumbled lyrics.
The collaboration with Declan McKenna evolved over time, starting remotely with the exchange of song stems before culminating in a productive studio session. Orla continues, “I first sent the song to Declan because, for me, he is one of the absolute greats, a properly timeless artist and writer. We dismantled the song and put it all back together in the studio. Dec’s parts and energy added so much to the track for me, and after months of revisiting it, ‘Late To The Party’ was suddenly complete.”
Orla’s album, “Everybody Needs a Hero”, explores themes of personal growth, relationships, and identity within a postfeminist context. The album reflects on the concept of a ‘hero’ – someone admired, someone to rescue us, or someone we project our lesser traits onto as a way of coping with our shadow selves.
Recorded between her London studio and Middle Farm Studios in Devon, Orla took a hands-on approach to the album’s creation, steering its direction from the writing stage through to mixing and mastering. She also collaborated with longtime partners Tom Stafford and Peter Miles, drawing on their expertise in both digital and analog production techniques to shape the sound of the album.
