From Charles Bukowski to Richard Ashcroft, many great writers have wrestled with the feeling of finding themselves alone with everybody. Lucy McWilliams approaches the sentiment today (March 15) from a woman’s perspective with her aching daydream ballad “Slow Dancing.” It’s a hypnotic piece of music that hovers overhead as the Irish alt-pop artist narrates her feelings of loneliness and isolation while out in public, surrounded up close by strangers.
“The song is about exploring loneliness and what you drive towards whilst in it,” McWilliams says. “It’s about finding comfort in intimacy with strangers. I guess it’s easier sometimes to be close to people you don’t know and don’t really want to explore. Something blocks you from reality because they are not in your world and won’t ever be. Painting a picture of the life we want people to see and how we want to be perceived. It’s a lot easier to keep up a front if you never let people in.”
We expect to be soon hearing more, and at greater volumes, from McWilliams on our shores and beyond, as she preps her debut headline show March 23 at The Workman’s Cellar in Dublin and opens two gig supporting breakout Irish luminaries Inhaler. In the meantime, we’ll be “Slow Dancing” with her from afar, and that seems suitable for this rather magnetic moment.