Irish singer/songwriter and producer Eiza Murphy has shared their first new single of 2023 with the release of the lilting but gorgeous “Haunted.” She’s been releasing singles for the past few years now and if you haven’t yet lent your ear to the elusively alluring pop ballads that she creates, now’s the time to start. Murphy’s penchant for slow-sizzling and moodily atmospheric tracks fills previous singles “La” and the electronica shuddering “Movies.” But her newest release steps momentarily away from the heady sonics of her last few singles in favor of the upliftingly tender wonder that grows out of “Haunted.”
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But don’t be fooled by the soothing instrumentation and Murphy’s own soaring coos. “Haunted” drips with a very specific kind of pain, one that quakes just below the surface of the song’s ethereal mood, and stems from seeing someone you love consumed by their love for another. And with the help of its sparse but deeply affecting surge of strings and piano keys, it is a ballad of gut-wrenching emotion.
“This house is haunted,” Murphy relents throughout the song — though it’s not your typical ghost that lives within. Instead, it’s the memory of someone else so intimately left behind (“There’s scars on the walls and footprints in the carpet”) that starts to make Murphy feel like a damning third wheel.
The accompanying lyric video for “Haunted” only piles on the heartache and beauty. Alone on a hilltop with the sunset at her back, Murphy sings into a lonely microphone about all the ways she’s been made to feel second to a fading memory. And a reminder that underneath all the dark pop she might layer over her music, there’s a singer/songwriter who can break your heart with little more than her searing vocals and words.
Visit Eiza Murphy on their website and Instagram to stay updated on new music and tour announcements.
Words by Steven Ward
Watch the lyric video for “Haunted” the new single from Eiza Murphy below!
