Orchards on OCD and their new single ‘Magical Thinking’: “With mental health, you can’t hide it”

Ahead of the release of their debut album ‘Lovecore’, rising Brighton band Orchards have opened up about their new single ‘Magical Thinking’ and normalising the conversation around mental health and OCD.

• Read more: What’s Your Band Called, Mate? Get To Know Orchards

Taken from their debut album, which is due on March 13, ‘Magical Thinking’ deals with singer Lucy Evers’ experience with therapy. “There’s a gross, imaginary taboo around going to a counsellor or a therapist to ask for help,” Evers told NME. “There’s this idea that it’s quite a shameful thing to ask someone to give you a hand.

“To just speak to someone with no vested interest can be a really helpful thing.”

Evers explained how tackling the misunderstanding that surrounds mental health and depression is something that she’s become very passionate about since she herself was diagnosed with OCD. Magical Thinking is part of her condition, which involves acting on obsessive thoughts or compulsions to have an impact on the outside world.

“I really hate hearing people misuse these terms,” she told NME. “You know, someone having to straighten a pen on a table and saying ‘Oh, I’m so OCD!’ You wouldn’t say, ‘Oh, I’m so coronavirus’. It’s quite a life-damaging condition to have.

“‘Magical Thinking’ is linked to that part of my understanding. It’s named after a condition. When my counsellor explained what Magical Thinking was to me, it was a real Eureka moment. I looked at all of the things that I do and realised that it wasn’t because I was weird or being dramatic, but there was a name for it.”

She continued: “It’s not using it as an excuse, but it helps you understand your struggle. This song is a 101 of my experience. I will never write a lyric that I don’t totally believe in.”

• Read more: ‘Am I depressed?” – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next

As for the message of the song, Evers revealed: “The lyrics are about acknowledging those around you and going: ‘I understand what you’re going through but right now I really need to look after myself and take more time and energy to get myself out of this’.”

She continued: “With mental health, you have to ride it. You can’t hide it, put it under the carpet, try to run away – you have to stare at it head on. For me, it’s about opening that conversation and saying, ‘I’m hurting but I’m going to go and fix it’.”

Evers’ experiences with tending to her mental health forms a thread that runs throughout Orchards’ debut album ‘Lovecore’, with the hope of creating a more open dialogue and feeling of understanding and support.

“Mental health stigma and taboo will be fixed from the ground up and with people changing the way that they speak to someone with depression or OCD,” she said. “Only you can make that change.

“You can’t say things like, ‘Oh I’m so OCD’ or ‘Get over it’. Language is very damaging when you’re struggling with something. Think of Caroline Flack. Maybe if people had spoken to her in a compassionate way, then maybe it wouldn’t have happened the way that it did. It’s not a difficult thing to do – it’s a very easy change.”

She added: “I actually got a message from someone about this the other day, it was really lovely. It was someone who I did an exhibition with years ago, [and] he sent me a really lovely message saying: ‘The past few weeks have been really tough, and I haven’t been able to get out of bed or out of the house much, but I’ve been listening to your song ‘Sincerely Overwhelmed’ and it’s managed to get me out of bed and out of the house every day this week’.

“It just completely floored me. Just being able to help one person was quite crazy.”

Visit the NHS help page for more advice on OCD. 

For help and advice on mental health:

• ‘Am I depressed?‘ – Help and advice on mental health and what to do next
• Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians
• Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues
• YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
• CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably for young men
• Time To Change – Let’s end mental health discrimination
• The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day