Sinead O’Brien is back with “GIRLKIND”, her first single since April, that sees her once again working with Dan Carey to create something beguiling and intoxicating. Being a poet, O’Brien introduces the new song with something of a poem:
“I am out in the elements.
At the mercy of others.
Pulled in all directions.
I wait endless.
The phenomenon of the moving statues in Ireland during the 1980s becomes a motif.
“When the virgin rocks the statues come to stop”.
These verses are glimpses into experience. Girlkind and Humanhood
Persevering eternity.
Balancing, evaluating.
Going back and forth.
Keep forging a way through.”
Not being a poet, I will come at “GIRLKIND” from a more straightforward point of view and say that it is the most muscular and expansive song she has yet released. From the opening lines, “Eternity is not never-ending everlasting, it is in the stillness, in walls, faces, liminal spaces…” we know we’re in for quite a ride, and O’Brien doesn’t disappoint. With a galloping desert rock sound, she pulls us through the annals of her mind, the words taking shape like a Dali painting even as she continually tells us “you have seen nothing yet”. Each time you listen to “GIRLKIND” you’ll pick out another incredibly visual line that makes you pause – but this song won’t allow you to stop, it keeps gaining momentum until it reaches a powerfully riff-packed crescendo. It all adds up to a fierce facsimile of “the everlasting experience of Girlkind and Humanhood”.
Watch the video below or listen to the song on streaming platforms.
“GIRLKIND” is out on Chess Club. Keep up with Sinead O’Brien on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
