Orla Gartland
patreon
demo 114: so perfect
🕑 Added 2025-09-30 09:28:00 +0000 UTCupdate : download link for this one here here ! (can't figure out how to do it within patreon since site has changed - using google drive for now)!
hey SDC! I present to you your september demo, 'so perfect'. really enjoyed the process of this one
can't tell you how much playing drums has affected the way I write, it's magic. I'm all about it ! I still have the tiniest shittest drumkit in my studes and yet.. it really doesn't matter. the ability to record a couple loops of how I feel the groove could sound and then to write on top of that with guitar/drums.. the rhythm sooo informs the other instruments and the vocal! on a good day I get into such a flow with it - I'm a proper lil one-woman band - and on a bad day I'm a crazed woman drinking too much tea and spending long days alone going feral
I think a lot about relationships and how vulnerable it is to really let someone else in.. to let them see all your grizzly sides. it's beautiful and scary and so exposing. this song is a cryyyy out to someone I love to say.. hey.. no need to perform. let your guard down with me, if you're willing.
the rubber bridge takes centre stage here.. the rhythm sort of reminds me of some old Nick Mulvey songs - (anyone remember this one? SO good. makes me emotional).. it also sort of gave me a vague feeling of old school Bombay Bicycle Club / Maccabees vibes? not sure - no specific songs, but I do feel there is some 2010's cutesy brit indie energy embedded in this one. at this point you know I like me a simple repetitive chorus when one lyric truly deserves it.. ("Alexa, play WHY AM I LIKE THIS by Orla Gartland.."). I feel there's something powerful about simplicity in certain cases.. especially a line that can have different meanings the more you say it. to me "you don't have to be so perfect" is like a compliment, then a desperate cry for emotional access, then a simple compliment again..
as always, you can stream this demo (and the others) from within the patreon site / mobile app (where you can also save offline) and usually you can download the attached mp3 for keepsies.. but the patreon site has updated and I can no longer see the option to do that (back on this soon if I can figure it out). if any thoughts, feelings or feedback come to mind when listening leave a comment below - for example, is this feeling one you can relate to?
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lyrics:
do you ever watch me
when I get undressed?
do you ever wish you
cared a little less?
you been zipped up good and tight
always alright
I’m not really buying that you’ve
only got a good side (*I sang this line wrong in the demo but the inverse of it is also interesting lol)
you don’t have to be so perfect
you don’t have to be so perfect
do you ever wonder
what is on my mind?
are you trying to tell me
you’re an angel all the time?
cause I’ve been chomping at the bit
yeah I admit
gotta give me something
go and hit me with the conflict
cause I can take it
you don’t have to be so perfect
you don’t have to be so perfect
you don’t have to be anything
you don’t have to be so perfect with me
I want all of you but I want you to myself
I want all of you but I want you to myself
looking for a side of you
that nobody else knows
is there a chance this is
as deep as the well goes?
cause I’ve been diving deep on down
trying hit ground
see you’re easy to love but hard to figure out
you don’t have to be so perfect
you don’t have to be so perfect
you don’t have to be anything
you don’t have to be so perfect with me
I want all of you but I want you to myself
I want all of you but I want you to myself
....................................................
SDC - thank you as always for your support. it's a mad time to be an artist - so much of the music industry (like other industries) feels broken and it's a hard time to be a small or even mid level artist without rich parents funding the whole frickin shebang. it's genuinely very hard to imagine how I'd sustain myself and be able to do really do this job without your collective support! it's so incredibly tangible.. aside from paying for things like my studio rent it's the absence of total financial panic that really helps me sleep at night. so thank you! I worry that when I'm less present online that they may get forgotten, but it means as much as ever (if not more) in these quieter, more introspective times
love you, OG xxxxx
Comments
Orla Gartland
yes! thank you for the nudge. here you go: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hhFMFBbhTRq6fN9T_ES8kXSWJ3cvI_4t/view?usp=share_link x
SaraSmiles13
Is there a download link for this one?
Abi
Urgh yes drums FOREVER sometimes u just bash about sometimes u sit in that pocket and either way it’s just healing innit
