Tara Nome Doyle Plays A Fallen Icarus In 'Bad Days' Video
(AHPR) Ahead of new album Ekko out this Friday via FatCat Records, Tara Nome Doyle shares new single 'Bad Days' that comes with a video where Tara plays a fallen Icarus.
Tara says of the track, "Bad Days" is a love song, written about the experience of being in a relationship in which both parties go through periodical bouts of poor mental health. Although it's not possible to resolve the other person's suffering, there is something so healing about simply being accepted and held in this fragile state. The realisation that "bad days never felt this good before" came to me on one of these dark days and I wanted to express my bittersweet appreciation of our shared suffering through this song."
Working with director Mateusz Miszczyński, Tara's videos show the overarching concept of the album which is rooted in the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus. 'Bad Days' draws from the myth of Icarus and Daedalus - the story of a boy and his father who attempt to escape captivity by flying. Famously, Icarus ignores his father's warnings and flies too close to the sun, causing his wings to melt and leading to his fall.
Instead of being distraught, Tara's role as Icarus appears dazed yet calm - completely focused on the observer, the camera. There's a fleeting moment of connection with a passerby who seems to grasp her ambition on a deeper level, before she is taken away by an ambulance and must surrender to her fate. The passerby, however, is left changed - still holding onto her wings. Perhaps she's opened his eyes to something.
Ekko is a journey that ventures outward into the unknown and inward to the depths of the self, exploring pain, farewells, new beginnings, and ultimately, acceptance along the way. Spanning just 30 minutes, the album exudes a remarkable clarity-not just in its brevity, but in its emotional depth, and feels like Tara's first "free climb" away from her first two albums.
This newfound freedom is reflected in the album's minimalist approach. Tara produced most of Ekko herself, intentionally keeping the musical palette simple. She collaborated with Grammy winning producer and engineer Simon Goff (The Joker, Chernobyl) to create a precise, stripped- back soundscape built around voice, piano, guitar, strings, Mellotron, and occasional analog synthesizers. A personal touch lies in the string arrangements: before transcribing the cello parts, Tara recorded vocal demos for each line herself.
Ancient myths weave seamlessly through Ekko, intertwining with Tara's introspective themes. The figures of Narcissus and the nymph Echo embody two extremes - self-obsession on one side and complete conformity on the other. These ideas resonate deeply in today's digital landscape, where identity often shifts between authenticity and the pressure to assimilate.
"My album was inspired by the myth of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid's Metamorphoses." Tara says. "Echo's story-losing her voice and sense of self as she's cursed to repeat others' words-felt like a powerful metaphor for my own journey. I went from creating unique songs with ease to relying heavily on external validation, twisting myself to fit others' expectations and losing touch with who I was."
She adds, "With this album, I wanted to strip away those layers of doubt and rediscover my true voice. It's about reconnecting with myself and creating music that feels honest, otherworldly, and cathartic. Not mirroring what other people want to see, but what I need to show them."
Tara's haunting vocals, introspective lyrics, and atmospheric, art pop sound has gained International praise from The Line Of Best Fit, CLASH, The Most Radicalist, Why Now, Wonderland, Vogue Japan, Consequence, The Irish Times, and more. Writing with Isobel Waller-Bridge, she's contributed to Netflix's Munich and forthcoming Three Women based on the best selling book by Lisa Taddeo, plus Tara's songs, music and performances have featured in several films and TV series, including HBO's Generation.
Her 2018 debut single 'Down with You' has amassed over 6 million streams, and went onto to release albums Alchemy (2020) and Værmin (2022), and a self-produced EP Agape (2024).
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