Premiere: Eilish Gilligan makes a return with the stunning I Just Want To Look At You

Header photo by Giulia McGauran.

Over the last four (!) years, it's become obvious that Eilish Gilligan is someone special to the Australian music space. Since her debut single Here, the Melbourne-based musician has consistently showcased her knack for crafting shimmering, Lorde-comparable pop that (somehow) can be simultaneously comforting and haunting; her vocal presence unmatchable as its floats and dances amongst twinkling productions often worked on alongside some of the country's best: Japanese Wallpaper, Braille Face, Konstantin Kersting and others included within that.

As a result, she's become a national treasure who finds herself on year-end lists just as often as some of her comparables and songwriting peers, with the vocal theatrics and longing passion that oozes from her music - or, in the case of the former, flips and dances around the production's natural ebb and flow - one that constantly rewards us not just as people wanting to hear great pop music, but ones that are wanting to see our pop market diversify and grow stronger. It's because of this, that she's become such a go-to name, coming a hell of a long way since being named an artist to keep an eye on in 2018 by yours truly after a break-out two tracks in the year prior. 

Now, as we enter 2020, it's clear her reckoning isn't over. After sharing a trio of singles in 2019 - The Pull, Keep Up and Someone Else - she's making a return in the new decade that's bound to continue to push her forward in the national pop canon; her charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent (I know she'll get a kick out of reading that as a long-time Drag Race fan) on feature display on the Jonothan Boulet co-produced new single, I Just Want To Look At You.

Armed with a backbone of clear-cut percussion, shimmering chords and twinkling synth, Eilish Gilligan masterfully whips up a dream-pop storm on I Just Want To Look At You, which spotlights that masterful vocal that continually proves itself to be one of the country's best (even when thrown amongst productions by HTMLflowers or, in the case of this track, master-producer Jonothan Boulet). It's lush and sonically rich, yet also longing with this certain emotional vulnerability that isn't just a trademark of Gilligan, but some of her biggest influences too: Lorde, Stella Donnelly, Taylor Swift and the list goes on.

"I’ve always thought that writing a song is like putting a beautiful frame around what could be considered an otherwise flippant or casual moment in time," she says on the track. "I Just Want To Look At You started as a throwaway phrase that someone said to me once. I couldn’t get it out of my head for days afterwards. If you think about it, it’s actually such a nice thing to have someone say to you."

Dive into the track below, and catch her at Melbourne's Estonian House on March 16th with Elizabeth, for Brunswick Music Festival:

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