Belfast band New Pagans create a vivid and captivating sound in their powerful new track, ‘Yellow Room’. It brings light to an incredibly important issue: motherhood within the music industry, and the insufficient levels of support for women with perinatal mental health problems, particularly in Northern Ireland. The track’s fantastic and emotive lyricism draws inspiration from Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a highly celebrated piece of early American feminist literature, in which the protagonist appears to be dealing with postnatal depression. The lyrics: “I’ve been in this room for days, trapped in a yellow haze, it’s getting worse, it’s getting worse”, perfectly capture the horrors and desperation of the illness.
This important subject matter often goes unspoken about. However, it impacts the lives of many women and their families each and every year. It’s a subject matter that is especially close to home for the band’s lead singer and lyricist, Lyndsey McDougall, who has witnessed some of her closest friends struggle with postnatal depression.
Whilst the support systems for perinatal mental health have improved in England, Scotland and Wales in recent years, the same can’t yet be said for Northern Ireland. New Pagan’s latest track aims to highlight the need for specialised parent-baby mental health units in their home province.
‘Yellow Room’ is now available on digital download and streaming.
Review by Rachel Makinson
newpagans.com