Dublin alt-pop artist Floor Staff shares first single in 4 years, 'Aspiration'

Irish artist Floor Staff (the moniker of Anthony Donnelly) has shared his first single after a four-year hiatus, titled 'Aspiration'.

Floor Staff has been releasing music since 2014 and is highly regarded by music fans and media for making high-level alternative pop tracks that play on the contrast between the grandiose and the intimate, persona and person - exploring themes of social expectations and their accompanying anxieties.

“Don’t be worried, everything’s just as it’s meant to be,” sings Anthony Donnelly on 'Aspiration', which was written about the trials and tribulations of a relationship coming to an end and the effort to salvage it.

“It’s an apology for the weakness and cruelty that contributed to the end of something formative and beautiful," Donnelly says. "It's also a gesture of appreciation for an immense but ultimately futile effort to lift that relationship up. Part of that gesture is a brief, if somewhat sarcastic reimagining of the relationship in a perfect fantasy world where no-one is ever broken and everything is fabulous.”

Never one to shy away from the personal, with his 2017 EP 'Convictions', Donnelly confronted themes of bereavement, fidelity and self-esteem - cathartically transforming these issues into joyous and catchy expressions of dark pop.

Floor Staff's first release, 'The Good Luck EP', received was critically praised and led to a UK and Ireland tour. Festival appearances included Other Voices, Electric Picnic, and twice at the prestigious Ireland Music Week.

The video for lead single 'The Guest', directed by Bob Gallagher, later won the Nikon Music Video Award.

This new material from Floor Staff, while retaining all of the shimmering production quality and intricate vocal stylings we’ve come to expect, sees Donnelly change in musical direction.

While lyrically focusing on the break up of a long-term relationship, Donnelly also explores the reshaping of long held perceptions of the self and the family unit.

Thematically, it reflects the turmoil of loss and regret; set against a broad horizon of possibility. 'Aspiration' plays on the freedom of uncertainty and the urgency of hope that accompanies a personal reckoning.

The new single by Floor Staff is the first single from his debut album, set to be released later this year.

Listen to 'Aspiration' below: