Eilish Gilligan is in intimate songwriter mode at the moment, and giving listeners delicate pop songs full of heavy emotion and intricate soundscapes. ‘Calling Me Out’ follows in the footsteps of the recently released ‘Flesh’ which delivered some fully realised ‘Folklore’ vibes. And now she’s soaking herself in the melodramatic aesthetic further with this haunting track that captures a fight in a relationship that caught her completely off guard.
Causing a fight with your partner on Christmas Day is something you never want to do, and most people will try to hold back any tension until after the special holiday, but not in Gilligan’s situation. Her partner decided to throw unjustified insults her way, and she didn’t quite know how to react so she just stood there and said nothing back. So this song serves as her overdue rebuttal, and hears her finding her voice within this moment.
“It’s Christmas.The one day that I don’t want to do this” she intimately confesses in the opening moments of the song before questioning “Why’re you calling me out? Something you gotta do on your own. Why’re you pushing me?”.
Beginning with atmospheric pop production and crackling, this moody pop beat emerges that then delicately intertwines with piano and strings. It’s a very fulfilled and visionary sound that doesn’t sacrifice the heartfelt and intense emotions that she wants to (and successfully) capture.
It’s such a beautiful song that feels so authentic and vulnerably honest, while also managing to simultaneously feel cinematic and sweepingly beautiful. Eilish Gilligan always finds a way to captivate me with every release, and she’s done it yet again with this very special moment.