Larks ‘Tired Eyes’

Olivia here. We just had an interesting conversation in the office about mental health and the music industry. Did you know that in order to gain a visa to the US you must disclose any physical or mental or disorders or disabilities you may have (or had in the past)? Me neither. To gain entry to the US with a mental health disorder, you must be able to demonstrate that your illness does not put you at risk of harming yourself or others, which of course makes things difficult for those who have self harmed or made suicide attempts in the past. If you have been sectioned, had a run in with the police as a result of your mental illness or alcohol/drug addiction, this puts you at further risk of your visa request being denied, as does having communicable diseases such as gonorrhoea and syphilis, placing further stigma on those with sexual transmitted diseases. Whilst government sources state that having a mental illness on it’s own is not grounds to deny entry to the US, it’s pretty scary that people who have struggled with their mental health (which is around one in four of us in the UK) could struggle to travel to or begin a new life in America. Once you add this to the list of people from seven predominantly Muslim countries that are now barred (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen), it looks like it’s getting harder and harder to gain access to the USA, due to misconceptions about mental health and religion. Anyway, cutting through the doom and gloom of international relations is today’s Track Of The Day from LARKS, the exciting new project from Fiona O’Kane. Fiona cut her teeth in the local music scene fronting the critically acclaimed Runaway Go and formed LARKS from a necessity to progress and to push the boundaries of her musical horizons. Her latest release ‘Tired Eyes‘, is a sumptuous four minutes of assured songwriting, featuring O’Kane’s hauntingly fragile vocal over delicate piano playing. Released as a live session, the stripped back recording will definitely leave you wanting more, and here at Killing Moon we can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.