First Impressions: “Heal Me” by Daughter of a Drum

Some days feel like a spinning top that’s just begun to wobble. We whirl ‘round and ‘round, teetering closer and closer to the ground, with the inevitable topple seemingly beyond our control. “Heal Me,” the debut single from Daughter of a Dream—aka Aoife McAtamney, who’s best known as a Dublin-based dancer and choreographer—explores not just the friction and gravity that’s at play in life, but the process to overcome the pain that follows the fall.

In the press release accompanying the single, McAtamney explains, “The song travels and is a composition of contrasts holding both pain and peace. The song starts with an organ acting as a prayer and bubbly synth representing the alchemy of giving into yourself. Trumpets and brass usher in a new day and dream that is your own. Fuzz guitar gives you that sexy rock and roll power, a sultry charisma that comes from your middle and a martini glass. The chorus are your angels cheering you on as you decide to mend your life. The tempo of the song is the tempo of your healing tears. If suffering has a remedy or balm, this song would be it.”

There’s an added dimension to the song beyond field recordings in Newgrange and New York City. It captures the reaction such spinouts engender in others: “I don’t know what to do, but just be here for you,” she sings, while offering to support her friend however she wants. “You wanna move, you wanna quit everything you belong to/well go ahead, we’ll mark a date/we’ll put our best boots on and we’ll walk away….”

Hopefully an EP or album is in the offing.