Written on the precipice of a separation, the single “Time Difference” captures a moment of perception, when two lovers see their lives in opposite directions.
Personal and moving, the track was written in the middle of a series of dates with Will Varley in 2018, when Ailbhe (Irish name pronounced ALVA) started adopting the after-hours lifestyle required of a touring musician.
Alone in her hotel room after a concert in Glasgow, the disparity between the city’s bustling nightlife with its own isolation seemed to echo the wavering feelings of loneliness and emotion she felt at that moment in her life. Stopping in a moment of reflection and perception, “Time Difference” fit perfectly right there.
“The lyrics show what it’s like to deal with making something work at a distance while living at a completely different time than my girlfriend at home.” says Ailbhe. “But it also reaches other times of other relationships where I was unable to make things work for the same reasons, there was always something in the way, whether it be physical distance or time.”
Written with Ailbhe’s eloquence and posture, it is both comforting and moving. Supported by happy indie-pop arrangements that resemble Sufjan Stevens or SOAK, it is a single that intertwines in your conscience.
The sweet video “Time Difference” shows Ailbhe in partnership with his old friend and director Ciaran O’Brien. Looking at the track’s themes through a light lens, the video was shot in Dublin in two days and Ailbhe is the star of the video as she travels through a series of works with antisocial hours, apparently out of sync with the rest of the world. As Ailbhe says:
“I wanted to represent this feeling of being on a different agenda than everyone else, showing what it would be like if I worked in an office. I spent many of my early twenties working in offices while doing night concerts in Dublin so I wanted to have a little fun with that idea.”
Produced by Erland Cooper and Tommy McLaughlin (producer and member of SOAK live), the single is just one of many deeply intimate and absorbing tracks planned to appear on his debut album to be released by Ailbhe’s label Friends of the Family.
