Photo by Iana Tokarchuk.
Singer-songwriter and two-time GRAMMY winner Delilah Montagu shares “Orange,” a patiently unfolding benediction that finds peace and closure in a mismatched relationship. As the song’s gentle momentum builds, Delilah recounts a flood of memories — odd tattoos, magical pets, the color preferences of parents — with poetic economy and a generous, empathetic delivery. It’s that rare beast: a gracious breakup song
‘It’s all about meeting someone new who doesn’t speak the same language as you, so everything is communicated without words, exploring identity and what that looks like when we are silent. It is amazing how much can be said without words. People can change (like in the unmasking artwork) but we can still love them for who they are, where they’re at.’
“I wrote ‘Orange’ about my first love. Loving someone but also understanding that you can’t exist in each other’s worlds is a painful realization, and I tried to put it into a song. ‘I was a bird, and you were a fish, we couldn’t breathe together like this.’ The song is also about reassuring the person that even though you don’t ever talk, you’re always thinking of them with love and that they will always be with you everywhere you go.”
“Orange” appears on Delilah‘s new EP entitled The Bird, due out June 14. The first in a series of upcoming releases, The Bird showcases Delilah’s pairing of vulnerable reckonings and symphonic, sumptuous soundworlds. It’s the careful culmination of Delilah’s unique musical journey, a refinement of perspective from an artist whose speedy rise to fame required a recalibration of artistic intent.
