Music
29 Jul 20

Track of the Day: Ailbhe Reddy's Operatic Single, 'Between Your Teeth'

The second single off Reddy’s long-awaited debut album is indie pop at its most dramatic.

Ailbhe Reddy has released another crystalline piece of indie pop: ‘Between Your Teeth’, the second single from her upcoming debut album, Personal History.

‘Between Your Teeth’ is a great example of the introspective, confessional songwriting style that earned Reddy a spot at South by Southwest and on the Irish Times’s ‘50 people to watch in 2019’ list.

“I protect my ego / round in circles we go,” Reddy sings, while behind her sharp-edged voice jangly guitars and crisp drums build toward the track’s operatic chorus. Reddy says that the track is about the “frustration of being unable to communicate in a relationship” — a compelling and relatable theme.

But even more than Reddy's songwriting, it’s the track’s soaring chorus that sets ‘Between Your Teeth’ apart from most contemporary indie pop.

After the song’s brainy intro (“I think too much / I think for both of us”) listers expect more rumination; Reddy’s huge melody comes as a surprise, a visceral link between her thoughts on her relationship and their emotional stakes.

This drama may stem from the circumstances in which Reddy wrote the song. ‘Between Your Teeth’ is the result of a period when Reddy was bouncing back and forth between Dublin and London for her music career, all while maintaining a relationship at home.

She says she jotted down the lyrics that became ‘Between Your Teeth’ on a train to Gatwick airport while returning home after a studio session.

“Travelling alone I always spent a lot of time thinking too much about past conversations and wondering what words were being held back between another person's teeth,” she explained.

‘Time Difference’, the first single from Reddy’s upcoming album, came out on June 24. Also inspired by the strain travel puts on relationships, it has many of the strengths of ‘Between Your Teeth' and a bright, upbeat sound.

Ailbhe Reddy plans to release Personal History on October 2 through her own label, Friends of the Family. Until then, check out ‘Between Your Teeth’ on Spotify below.