Stream: Waking Life - Sorcha Richardson

Brooklyn via Dublin musician Sorcha Richardson is back again with another slice of her beautifully introspective narrative-driven electronic pop.

Following on from the lovely 4AM, released earlier this summer, Waking Life is another heartbreakingly honest portrait of things not going to plan. Facing the realisation she can’t put a relationship back together that is already falling apart at the seams, Richardson instructs the subject “Please don’t waste your voice on us, if all you hear is white noise, yeah all you hear is white noise”.

Waking Life features Richardson’s typically layered and atmospheric production. It’s hard not to hear the tears and Dublin rain falling in the solid and un-showy beat, actual white noise and the muted melodies that gradually emerge over the duration of this song. Richardson sings about dying flowers and chips of flaking paint and faded colours and fingers wrapping around her beating heart like branches in a way that conjures every single detail in your mind.

Describing her inspiration, Richardson says

”Waking Life' is a song I started writing around my last birthday. There's something about birthdays that force you to pause and reflect on your life and take stock of where you're at. Sometimes that's a really fun and fulfilling thing to do but sometimes it can feel really shitty. I've spent a lot of my life saying to myself that 'by the time I'm X years old, I'll have overcome that fear, I'll have worked out all those issues, I'll have mended that relationship.' This song is about getting to a point in life and suddenly realizing that your reality falls way short of the dream you were holding onto in your head. It's about having no idea how to reconcile the discrepancies between the two, but also wondering how or why you thought it would be different.“

I can’t get enough of Sorcha Richardson. I just can’t.

Catch Sorcha on tour with Imelda May next month:

24/10: Limerick, UCH

25/10: Limerick, UCH

27/10: Sligo Live

28/10: Killarney, INEC

29/10: Cork, Opera House

31/10: Wexford, Speigeltent

Produced by Alex Casnoff Mixed by Sean O'Brien Mastered by Pete Lyman, Infrasonic Mastering Artwork by Yimmy Yayo

Stream: 4AM - Sorcha Richardson

I've been kind of in love with Sorcha Richardson's form of melancholic narrative driven folk pop since 2015's gorgeous Petrol Station.

Following on from last year's Ruin Your Night, Richardson is back with a new single in the form of 4AM. The track's most instantly recognisable component is the unrelenting bass that underlines the majority of the song, snatching the subtle momentum created in the bridge and running with it. It's the moments of exposed fragility that really make this though - Richardson's emotional honesty as she lays down her frustration at her lover's door at the at the two-minute mark: "You always think you can just stay 'til the morning like it's not even important what I want / you really think you can just tell me your sorry, and I'll be ready and waiting to move on?"

These moments act as a sharp contrast to the desperate and emotionally battered lines "Please don't say you're coming over, I just finished cutting all the cords from the telephone"... You can't help but feel uncomfortable as Sorcha pleads "It's four in the morning, I think you should go" on the track's chorus, over and over. It is almost like that insistent bass line is a metaphor for a partner that doesn't quite know how to give a bit of space.

As is typical for her music, Richardson has made another song that is both beautiful and thoughtful.

Produced by Alex Casnoff Mixed by Sean O'Brien Mastered by Pete Lyman, Infrasonic Mastering Artwork by Yimmy Yayo

Stream: Ruin Your Night - Sorcha Richardson

The Brooklyn based but Dublin born musician Sorcha Richardson first caught my attention almost 18 months ago with her gorgeous track Petrol Station - one of my favourite tracks from last year. Having recently unveiled two songs in recent months on Soundcloud (Lost and Walk Away) Richardson is back with Ruin Your Night.

Contuining Sorcha's narrative based approach, Ruin Your Night tells the story of a pair of star-crossed-not-quite-lovers - one of those relationships that feels inbalanced from the start. The vocal delivery on Richardson's records feels so disappointed in the mundanity of our emotions - it's another beautifully wasted record, and I can't wait to hear more from Sorcha Richardson.

Ruin Your Night out October 20 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2xIO1KZ87IRXwz1TDlfU4Y iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ruin-your-night-single/id1165572783 INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/sorcha.richardson FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/sorcharichardson... TWITTER: https://twitter.com/sorcharichardsn www.SorchaRichardson.com

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Stream Petrol Station - Sorcha Richardson

Sorcha Richardson's Petrol Station has a number of things going for it. In the verses her vocals have just enough exposure to feel like a contemporary reimagining of Tom's Diner. In the chorus overdubbed vocals and heavier waves of synth create an infectious sense of forward momentum. The whole thing is tied up in a bow of mournful autumnal sense of neediness that feel irresistible. I just want to wrap it up in a warm hug.

Sorcha Richardson is an Irish-born New York-resident musician and Petrol Station follows a number of festival performances in Ireland and both headline shows and festival appearances in the US. Having moved to New York five years ago Richardson won over audiences with her bedroom recorded EP Sleep Will Set Me Free, which attracted 200,000 plays on Soundcloud, followed by her Last Train EP, released via Crosswalk Records/Delicieuse Musique.

Petrol Station will be released on May the 26th with a number of summer shows planned across the USA in 2015.

Show some love on hypem.com: http://hypem.com/track/2b9fk/Sorcha+Richardson+-+Petrol+Station Produced by @bailemusic Recorded by Gian Stone at Stone Recording Mixed by Gian Stone and Harper James at Stone Recording Mastered by Anthony Scott DePerto at ANS Studio Artwork by Shane Gormley Lyrics: We stayed up late to watch a movie April fools I think a Tuesday Spring had just arrived And so our clothes were hanging loosely We stepped outside To the old petrol station Out of nowhere started raining Kinda suited the occasion Reminded me of when we spent our whole summer vacation Two thousand eleven Sleeping in my basement Looking back I think that we just spent those 2 weeks wasted Some side of love we tasted You find your love you chase it If I, If I never told you That I wanna hold you That I wanna hold you I just wish it was old news If I, If I never told you That I wanna hold you That I wanna hold you I just wish it was old news By now, Cause you're coming over to my house You're coming over to my house Red eyes don't get rid of your doubt By now, Cause you're coming over to my house You're coming over to my house Red eyes don't get rid of your doubt We stayed up late to watch the day arrive Lucky number 25 Take a minute Just to live it And that's when you'll realize Every now and then The worst week makes the best weekend And everything is better Because I'm with all my friends Some suburban kids just getting drunk out in the garden Sitting by a swimming pool With the best dressed kid from Harlem Grass stains on my shoes My rib cage is bruised But that side of love we tasted You find that stuff you chase it If I, If I never told you That I wanna hold you That I wanna hold you I just wish it was old news If I, If I never told you That I wanna hold you That I wanna hold you I just wish it was old news By now, Cause you're coming over to my house You're coming over to my house Red eyes don't get rid of your doubt By now, Cause you're coming over to my house You're coming over to my house Red eyes don't get rid of your doubt I'm not holding out For anything better Can we just stay here forever? Can we just stay here forever? I'm not holding out For anything better Can we just stay here forever? Can we just stay here forever? I'm not holding out For anything better Can we just stay here forever? Can we just stay here forever? I'm not holding out For anything better Can we just stay here forever? Can we just stay here Cause I should have told you By now, Cause you're coming over to my house You're coming over to my house Red eyes don't get rid of your doubt By now, Cause you're coming over to my house You're coming over to my house Red eyes don't get rid of your doubt