"Woman on the internet" is the debut album by 26-year-old Irish singer songwriter Orla Gartland. Although releasing her debut album in 2021 you would have thought she is quite a new artist. However, she has been plugging away and gaining more and more recognition for years. Her first EP was released way back in 2011 called "Laughing at my own jokes" and has released 3 more since. She also has a very popular You tube channel with over 21 million views to date where she has posted many covers.
The album starts off with "Things I have learned" which is a great introduction to the album. It has this hypnotic beat at a perfect tempo and the vocals much like the rest of the album are superb. Although Orla is clearly the star of the show here. There are plenty of other people helping her on this record to make it a real gem. You've got guitar, bass, drums and synths on every track. Second track "You're not special, babe" has a great chorus. Not only because it has that upbeat, chirpiness of the first track but again the vocal performance is superb.
3rd track "More like you" continues the momentum of feel-good anthems and is currently her most popular track on Spotify and has 5 million streams. In fact, it looks like there is only one track of hers which streams more which is "Heavy" which is not on the album, and I think is a cover of the Linkin Park track. Recommended listening. 4th track "Over your Head" continues the momentum. It feels so massive and built for playing live.
But my favourite track on the album is track 5 "Zombie!". First, why don’t more artists use the word "zombie" as it’s such a fun word. Again, another upbeat chirpy number. This track and the tracks leading up to this are just so fun and carefree and that's what I like about her the most. Track 6 "Madison" takes the tempo down a little and is more of a stripped back track. While I would love for the momentum of the album to continue the way it was going. I suppose mixing things up every now and then isn't a bad thing. Track 7 "Do you mind?" is another downbeat track and whereas the previous tracks although synths did appear were more of guitar led tracks, this is a piano led track.
Track 8 "Copendancy" sends the album back into upbeat mode with a heavy guitar line as the intro to the song. The way the guitars come in and out of this song and mix with Orla's vocals is superb and shows the great level of creativity Orla puts into her song writing. I really feel that this brings such a freshness to Orla's sound. Track 9 "Pretending" is another glorious track and Orla's voice soars more than ever on this track and making it another stand out moment on the album.
Track 10 "Left Behind" is a stripped back slow piano ballad. Then the album finishes on "Blood Line/Difficult Things". "Blood Line" has a really funky beat brought out by the bass and yet another great chorus. You can see why she has shot to fame. Such great hooks to so many of her songs. The second part of the song "Difficult things" closes the album nicely rounding off with an acoustic ballad.
Overall, I feel this is not only a great effort for a debut album. But Orla has showed such creativity and injected great freshness into not only her own music but the music industry generally. This is exactly what people need currently. Something upbeat that you can move around too while also having that balance with those poignant ballads. Someone to look out for in the future. She is seriously talented.
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