A radiant indie rock anthem driven by the fires within, Coyle Girelli’s impassioned “Do You Wanna Dance?” off his second album ‘Funland’ is emotional release manifest in song; a moment of intimacy after endless isolation.
Stream: “Do You Wanna Dance?” – Coyle Girelli
It’s been a while since we could be reckless; it’s been a while since we felt okay to let go. Soaring and cinematic, Coyle Girelli’s latest single is an exhilarating invitation to throw caution to the winds and dive into the unknown; to live free and with abandon; to stop worrying and indulge in a passing fancy. A radiant indie rock anthem driven by the fires within, “Do You Wanna Dance?” is emotional release manifest in song: A taste of passion that’s been gone for so long; a rainstorm after a drought; a moment of intimacy after endless isolation.
You can say it with your eyes
Or say it with your tongue
Watching the weather in the 4×4
With the headlights on
You look pretty when you cry
And pretty when you don’t
Waxing the leather
With the lipstick stains in your cigarette smoke
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering the music and Jon Danovic-directed video for “Do You Wanna Dance?,” the latest single off Coyle Girelli’s forthcoming sophomore solo album Funland (out February 25, 2022 via Honey Lemon Records). Formerly the frontman for British rock bands Your Vegas and The Chevin, Coyle Girelli has more recently found his voice in stunning singer/songwriter balladry and a classic rock-and-roll sound. In premiering his debut album Love Kills in 2018, Atwood marveled at how Girelli “brings us face-to-face with heartbreak, challenging us to feel real feelings as the artist strips to a vulnerable and terrifyingly fragile state.”
Whereas Love Kills was a dark and turbulent affair, Funland is a colorful and brighter, yet nonetheless turbulent affair.
The past two years’ COVID-19 lockdowns and the pandemic’s overall emotional and physical distance prove powerful kindling for an album about escape and indulgence, which – one could argue – is exactly what we need right now.
“Funland was a concept I had been kicking around for a month or so before I started writing the album during lockdown,” says the New York City-based Girelli. “A nighttime place of escape, debauchery, vice and pleasure. When the pandemic hit New York I headed to the woods of Vermont where I holed up for several months and where this album was written. In those moments, the album’s concept took on a whole new meaning. I was missing New York, my city. The New York City in my head that I was missing mixed with this mythical place that I had created in my mind became Funland.”
The album’s first three singles “From 7th Street with Love,” “Fun,” and “Here Comes My Baby” showcase its nuanced highs and its stirring lows; Girelli’s talent at marrying potent, provocative emotions with catchy, timeless melodies seems at an all-time high, driven by that intense desire to capture something that’s just out of reach.
That unattainable ecstasy and euphoria comes a little closer in “Do You Wanna Dance?,” a sweet fantasy brought to life with connection and surrender, driving drums and glistening guitars. Girelli shines as bright as ever in an emotionally charged, beautifully intimate chorus. His golden voice dips high as he welcomes in a night of mystery and discovery. Is he courting a person, or is he courting his own state of reckless abandon – a feeling he’s steered clear of for so long now?
Oh my heartache Queen
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?
Wanna dance with me
Take off your dress
On the count of 3
Oh my heartache Queen
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?
Wanna dance with me
Come tie me up in your symmetry tonight
“This one was one of the first songs I wrote during the [making] of Funland,” Girelli tells Atwood Magazine. “To me it has the energy of a caged animal, as that is how I felt in those early days of lockdown. Kinda bouncing off the walls a bit. It felt good to write and live in this moment, and I’ve loved playing it live the few times we’ve played it since I finished the album.”
“I imagine this scene in a Studio 54-esque place, just escaping with somebody somewhere to get up to no good.”
Cutting paper with a knife
And ripping through the crumbs
Can’t find the razor on the bathroom floor
And my mouths gone numb
Guess I really should go home
But I cant sleep alone
Testing the water
Till light bulbs burst
And the cows come home
Jangly and shimmering, “Do You Wanna Dance?” is a kind of realized fever dream: A taste of rapture in the midst of the reeling.
The solitude and disconnect we’ve experienced throughout the pandemic is cast aside, if only for a moment, in this song. One gets the sense that this is the light not at the end of the dark tunnel, but in some kind of middle – a hole through which you can pop your head, but not the whole body. Nonetheless, Girelli soaks in this emotional nectar far all it’s worth, take the opportunity to feel good and project that good feeling out through song.
Ultimately, Funland is just that: A welcome escape, if only for a little while.
“It doesn’t take itself too seriously,” Girelli says of his new album. “Some of the lyrics are a little tongue-in-cheek. Sonically, it sits in the world I usually end up in, which is quite rich, wide and bold.”
Take a chance, make a splash, and jump headfirst into the unknown with “Do You Wanna Dance?,” an achingly intimate and enchanting anthem streaming exclusively on Atwood Magazine. Coyle Girelli’s sophomore album Funland is out February 25.
Oh my heartache Queen
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?
Wanna dance with me
Take off your dress
On the count of 3
Oh my heartache Queen
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?
Wanna dance with me
Come tie me up in your symmetry tonight
Do you wanna dance?
Do you wanna dance tonight?
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Stream: “Do You Wanna Dance?” – Coyle Girelli
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