Garden Eyes Drop New Emo Ballad 'Contest'

Looking for a brand new heartbreaking emo track to add to your playlists? Brisbane alternative-rock quartet Garden Eyes have you covered with their newest single ‘Contest’; a stripped-back love song expressing the heart-wrenching reality of loving someone through their struggles with mental health and depression.

Having just been released on the 17th, you definitely do not want to sleep on this one!

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Being Garden Eyes’ second release of 2026, following their previous single ‘Speak Slow’ which was dropped in February, both tracks demonstrate the band’s ability to create around the idea of complicated relationships.

With both songs being produced by Jackson Deasy (East Capri), these 2026 releases follow a series of live shows for these guys, including support slots for Bloom and Avoid (US) on The Light We Chase Australian Tour earlier this year.

‘Contest’ is immediately raw and vulnerable, consisting of acoustic strumming, bare instrumentation and pained vocals that express the anguish behind this track’s lyrics.

The overall melancholic tone of this song is heavily impactful, really putting listeners in the headspace of someone traversing through this painful position.

The stripped-back sound of this song draws focus and attention to the lyrics, which are beautifully written and evocative. .Garden Eyes themselves write that lyrically, this song tackles the “exhaustion, guilt, and hidden hurt that grows when love becomes entangled with mental health”.

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Fans of melodic emo songs and bands like Movements and The Story So Far will definitely want to chuck this one a listen. You can do so by clicking here!

Make sure you also stay tuned for more from Garden Eyes By checking out their socials here, because these rising alt-emo stars are definitely ones to keep an eye on ;)

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