VIDEO PREMIERE: Kilkenny musician Gary O'Neill offers an ode to family on new single 'Petals'

Emerging Irish singer-songwriter Gary O’Neill will unveil the video for his brand new single 'Petals' on Friday, premiered exclusively below by Hot Press.

Filmed by Zyanya Lorenzo, the nostalgic visuals feature Gary with his mother, diving back into memories gone by and reflecting on his time away from home.

'Petals' is a gorgeous song about living abroad and missing your family with arguably a uniquely Irish ache. "Petals is an ode my mother and grandmother and their hopes that I'd return home someday. 'It's not Ireland when you're gone,' they told me once over the phone," Gary O'Neill says of the tune.

For fans of Ben Howard, David Gray, Bon Iver and Foy Vance; O'Neill's beautiful debut EP For Those I’ve Missed will be released on April 15th, 2022.

The project was recorded in Asta Kalapa Studios, Wexford, with a show in the Workman's Cellar in Dublin arranged for March 20th in celebration of the news.

Gary's intimate, honest brand of songwriting and performing have earned him fans around Ireland and beyond. The musician started playing guitar at the age of 14, taught by his father. With a few basic chords in hand, O'Neill went on to become entirely self-thought - later writing his own music.

The Kilkenny native spent his time growing up in numerous bands and finding his sound and style.

“I played in different bands growing up, and wrote lots of music for my old teenage band; Alka Jessie," Gary explains. "I think if I looked back on all of that work I would cringe at the thought of it. But we were so young. Everyone back then was a rock band, and this was our attempt at some progressive, folk outfit that cared more about what the story of a song could tell over the performance of it.”

Gary has released a few albums over the years but has since taken most material offline as he sets out to develop a new sound for himself.

“I was heavily influenced by John Martyn," O'Neill tells Hot Press. "He changed the landscape, for me, of what it meant to be a guitarist. Free formed, unusual open tunings- they were melodic and inimitable. He wavered the line between this wild, eccentric, comical entertainer - who was simultaneously a thoughtful, clever, passionate and romantic songwriter. The contrast was so intriguing to me."

The rising artist found similar inspiration with Ben Howard, David Gray and Joni Mitchell.

"My biggest influence, my reason for choosing to pursue music - is thanks to a Foy Vance concert I saw years ago," he recalls. |It embodied everything I would grow to love about writing and performing. Swinging from pure intimacy, to hilarity - having a whole room in the palm of your hands. It was such an emblematic, evocative, monumental moment for me; it kick-started my whole pursuit of music.”

Forthcoming debut EP To Those I've Missed is a body of work that explores friendships, relationships from the past, present and future. Time, especially within the last couple of years - can drift people apart. but the spirit of those we love and miss is boundless, and can always be acknowledged in the appearance of memory.

Check out the brand new video for 'Petals' below: