Florida-born singer-songwriter Gatlin has unveiled ‘Soho House Valet’, the devastatingly beautiful centre-piece and final advance preview of her upcoming debut album The Eldest Daughter, arriving October 3 via Dualtone Records.
Beautifully warming piano and affecting vocals captures a tone as comparable to Phoebe Bridgers as it is to Taylor Swift’s folklore era with an undercurrent of Birdy. Distilling a melancholic, reflective genuine sense of emotion, the track’s painfully honest lyricism is met a restrained sonic approach to match the emotive tone of Gatlin’s vocal delivery.
As the track builds it reaches a cinematic chorus, as layers of reverb soaked backing vocals, warming bass and delicate acoustic guitar fill out the soundscape. As the track continues to build, the track gradually unfurls before reaching a climactic final chorus as strings and well paced drums take the track to a dramatic finale. Thematically, the track reflects on Gatlin’s own family dynamics while tracing the tension of coming out in the conservative, religious community where she was raised. On the soaring chorus she sings, “Heavy, I don’t mean to put that on you,” a refrain that captures both the burden and the release of self-expression.
“I wrote Soho House Valet after my parents had come to visit my sister and I in Los Angeles and my father and I got in a fight right outside of the Soho House in Downtown LA,” says Gatlin. “It was one of the most vulnerable things I’ve ever written. As the eldest daughter, I’ve always felt like I had to be strong and never burden anyone…but digging through stuff I never expected to share and then sharing this song anyway started a healing process.”
Across the upcoming album, The Eldest Daughter, Gatlin displays the full width of her musicality, from stripped melancholic reflections to buoyant, swelling alt-pop and atmospheric electronics. To celebrate the release, Gatlin will host a sold-out album preview party tonight, September 17, at Los Angeles’ In The Meantime, where she’ll perform the record front-to-back with her full band for the first time.
The Eldest Daughter arrives October 3 via Dualtone Records. Listen to the new single below:
