Culture
10 Feb 22

PREMIERE: Indie act Qwerty Mick reveals understated new single 'Google Your Symptoms’

Irish singer-songwriter Qwerty Mick was inspired to try songwriting by the likes of fellow downtempo contemporaries King Krule, Elliott Smith and Alex G.

If Mac DeMarco, Cosmo Pyke, Connan Mockasin and Kean Kavanagh are on your top Spotify playlists, we urge you to give Qwerty Mick a listen.

The multi-instrumentalist is unveiling his new single 'Google Your Symptoms’ tomorrow - premiered by Hot Press below and taken from his forthcoming March 2022 EP.

The intriguing rising star's new single is masterfully understated, with the track’s delicate guitar licks and shuffling drums veiling its lyrics of political disillusionment. The lush textures of Qwerty Mick’s production create a wonderfully dreamy, escapist atmosphere - allowing his charming vocals to float above the haze. The single dives deep into his frustration within Irish society and politics, with change seeming farther out of reach by the day.

"Google your symptoms / Has it ever offered reassurance? / When institutions are your organs / You sir, are a bark in the distance," he croons on the DIY track, with a noticeably laidback tone.

“‘Google Your Symptoms’ details my frustration at the time of the recent Irish General Election, particularly when I scrolled through Twitter," Qwerty Mick tells Hot Press. "I found the more attention I paid to the election, or the more I would educate myself on Irish politics, the worse I’d feel about the state of the country. It feels the same as googling your symptoms, where you already feel sick enough as it is, and in googling things, it only piles on layers of anxiety.

"Reassurance is never offered, especially when the organs that you’re stressing over are the failing Irish institutions around you.”

For Qwerty Mick, the recording process is one of nocturnal, introspective solitude. From his small bedroom studio, the artist crafts productions that are delicately sparse yet wholly ambitious. ‘Google Your Symptoms’ is a perfect taster of his debut EP, a mixed bag of lo-fi bedroom-built music filled with jazzy chord progressions, lo-fi punky drums, and the rough and tumble of his spoken-word vocal style. We're eager to see what's in store for this thrilling new voice.

Listen to ‘Google Your Symptoms’ below: