Orla Garland Will Release Second Studio Album 'Everybody Needs a Hero' Later This Year; Shares New Single
The album is due out October 4th.
By: Josh Sharpe Jul. 24, 2024
Irish singer/songwriter Orla Gartland will release her second studio album Everybody Needs A Hero, on Friday, October 4th via her own label New Friends. She also releases album highlight, “The Hit,” showcasing a slightly softer side to the record.
Everybody Needs A Hero explores how Gartland shapeshifts through the currents of a long term relationship and works out how to take up space in a postfeminist world. She explores the idea of a “hero”: someone to look up to, someone to rescue us from ourselves, someone we use to deflect from our own shadow self.
The album came to life between her London studio and the creative sanctuary of Middle Farm Studios in Devon. With Gartland on a constant quest to push herself as a writer and producer, she captained the ship during the writing and recording processes, with strong direction right through to the mixing and mastering. She worked with longtime collaborators Tom Stafford and Peter Miles in co-producing the album, inspired by each producers’ digital and analog approaches.
“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. Gartland describes the relationship in question as “like a voodoo doll thing… you’re so connected it hurts.” Orla explains, “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.”
Everybody Needs A Hero will feature already released singles “Little Chaos,” “Mine,” “Kiss Ur Face Forever” and today’s album highlight “The Hit”, showcasing a slightly softer side to the record. Everybody Needs a Hero is the follow-up to Gartland’s 2022 full-length debut album, Woman on the Internet, that earned her praise from The New York Times, NME, The Cut, Slant, and more. The album has contributed millions of listens to her over 250 million streams to date, and helped to foster a deeper connection with Gartland’s dedicated fan base worldwide.
Gartland has also announced her first ever headline tour of North America, taking place this November, with many dates selling out almost immediately. The thirteen date tour sees her take in stops across the US and Canada, including New York’s Bowery Ballroom and LA’s Troubadour. Tickets are on sale now, full list of dates below.
Orla Gartland 2024 Tour Dates
Thursday, November 7th - Cafe 939 - Boston, MA - SOLD OUT
Friday, November 8th - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY - SOLD OUT
Saturday, November 9th - Atlantis - Washington, DC - SOLD OUT
Monday, November 11th - Johnny Brenda’s - Philadelphia, PA - SOLD OUT
Wednesday, November 13th - Bar Le Ritz - Montreal, QC
Friday, November 15th - Longboat - Toronto, ON - SOLD OUT
Saturday, November 16th - Third Man Records - Detroit, MI - SOLD OUT
Sunday, November 17th - Sleeping Village - Chicago, IL - SOLD OUT
Thursday, November 21st - Polaris Hall - Portland, OR - SOLD OUT
Friday, November 22nd - Fox Cabaret - Vancouver, BC - SOLD OUT
Saturday, November 23rd - Barboza - Seattle, WA - SOLD OUT
Monday, November 25th - Rickshaw Stop - San Francisco, CA - SOLD OUT
Tuesday, November 26th - Troubadour - Los Angeles, CA - SOLD OUT
About Orla Gartland
Bold, brash and increasingly self-assured, Dublin-born, London-based artist and producer Orla Gartland ushers in a new chapter with ‘Little Chaos’. A testament to her artistic growth, burgeoning confidence and fastidious sense of independence the track is the latest milestone in this self-made talent’s journey. She boasts career streams nudging towards a quarter of a billion, sold-out tours and festival appearances at Glastonbury and Latitude; to her Top 10 critically acclaimed self-released debut album Woman On The Internet; taking in a huge viral hit ‘Why Am I Like This,’ (700 million views and nearly 400,000 TikTok creations, and counting). Last year, she joined musical forces with longtime friends dodie, Greta Isaac and Martin Luke Brown to release The Secret To Life as new band FIZZ.
Amassing a dedicated fan-base and creative community including her notable 'Secret Demo Club', Orla has forged an even deeper relationship with her fans as she unveils her work-in-progress tracks, some of which have gone on to feature on the upcoming second record. Her brutal honesty and pragmatic realism have always been present in her songwriting but become even more prominent when paired with the louder, more angular alternative sound Orla has embraced this time around.
Orla's debut album Woman On The Internet charted in the top 10 of the UK Official Charts, at #3 in the Irish Album Charts and was nominated for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2021. The culmination of many years honing her songwriting and production skills, the record was praised by the likes of The Observer (“This beautifully crafted debut spans pop-punk to indie rock, with knife-sharp lyrics all the way”), NME (“a hard-won celebration of perseverance and artistic freedom”) and many more.
Photo credit: Nicole Ngai
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