Billy Fitzgerald releases lush new single 'Gimme Love'

After almost a decade and multiple covers in the works, one of Dublin's brightest new voices, Mr. Billy Fitzgerald, is finally ready to release his pop masterpiece 'Gimme Love'. A track that owes as much to Destiny's Child as it does to Star Trek and to life-paralyzing anguish.

This exuberant pop production is a bed of roses that only serve to cover the thorns. Juxtaposing a saccharine pop melody with a soulful cry of simply wanting to be loved only serves to further accentuate the light and darkness of each element. Written, recorded and produced entirely by Billy, this speaks to how personal this project is. But when it came time to outsource the mastering, Billy turned to Abbey Road to add the final polish to his track.

After the dissolution of his band, The Dead Flags, Billy made the decision to stop writing and playing. Conscious of not wanting to repeat himself, part of the search for his new sound meant starting from scratch. Billy gave himself a year to be a fan and fall in love with music again. When the time came, he rented a small room above Abbey Street in Dublin. This was where he would slowly extract the new sound from him, discarding old habits and tropes, even going so far as to ditch the Telecaster in favor of the acoustic guitar. The slow addition of piano, synthesizers, some drum machines and percussion gave Billy the palette for his writing. It is this palette that we hear in the new single 'Gimme Love'

The track opens with a lush-sounding Billys gospel choir, harmonies upon harmonies are the entry point into this tale of heartbreak. These give way to the percussive melody of the acoustic guitar and driven by the pulse of the same drum machine favored by Madonna in Vogue. These two elements add an unmistakable rhythm to the track. Written following a friend intensely going through the breaking of the lyrical pendulum between challenge and plea to return to the love they had before. This dual perspective perfectly captures the nature of any breakup while attempting to make sense of this betrayal. When we reach the first chorus, Billy acts as a conduit for the pain as he intones 'I've given you everything/my money, my body, my wedding ring/you can ask me for anything/but I know your heart belongs to someone else.' The second verse and second chorus become more intense, as the voices acquire an increasingly higher register and the synth chords add accent to the chorus. The piano melody in the bridge feels conversational, given some additional synth flourishes before a simple background and extra lush chorus take us home.

The song was written over ten years ago while Billy was sitting at his kitchen table with ideas from a Mrs. Knowles singing on it, but the song was not fully realized until it was played for an audience. Playing several open mics in Dublin helped the song find its natural groove and when the crowd at Whelans started singing along to a song they had heard for the first time, it was a sign. The next day, St. Patrick's Day, Billy locked himself in and recorded the entire song. Having spent some time recording on previous projects at Abbey Road, Billy had been learning production from the greats who ran those forums. Taking all this and fueled by the energy of the audience the night before, each song was the first or second take, with new parts improvised on the spot, even going so far as to play the final synthesizer chord with the tongue in search of happy euphoria. .

Watch 'Gimme Love' – BELOW:

Some tracks happen instantly as if an unknown force is guiding your hand to the next chord and the words seemingly flow as if you've known them your whole life. Other times, it takes a decade. The journey from band member to solo artist, producer and engineer makes this project even more personal. Billy establishes himself as a fresh and vital voice on the Dublin pop scene with 'Gimme Love', a heady, heady mix of heartbreak combined with a drum machine.