Plymouth’s George Moir delivers a deceptively upbeat tale of psychological burnout with “Empty”

We’re all still dealing with the ramifications of 2020, but fortunately, George Moir has popped out an empathetic, intelligent, and emotionally sensitive new single to help us feel a little more chipper. It also happens to be an absolute banger.

“Empty” is a bitesize indie-pop run through Moir’s mental state in a period when balancing his burgeoning musical career with a full-time job felt like it was becoming too much to manage.

“'Empty' is kind of a sister track to my last single 'Flowers’”, explains Moir. “I wrote it the same week – we had one day left at the studio before I had to go home. I was drained and spent the whole year up to that point working a full-time job alongside making music. Eventually I had to quit the job and the money was starting to run out and I was completely burnt out.”

The lyrics see Moir reflecting upon his spell of stress and subsequent mental struggles (“I’m running on empty / ain’t getting enough sleep / it’s starting to show”), while the contrasting musical accompaniment is precisely the kind of laid-back, effortless composition that gives the impression that it was knocked together in a short, sharp burst of frenzied creativity. Which, as it turns out, it was.

‘We’d been trying to write stuff all day and nothing was really very good, but I went back to the studio on my own, sat down at a Rhodes piano and out came the song’, expands Moir. ‘It was like it was just waiting there for me. It was a huge relief to not have to brute force anything, and it summed up the whole frustrated feeling for me! I was absolutely knackered and absolutely broke, and it was a real relief to stop holding it together for a minute and just get it out into a song.”