Paul Garside channels dark folk theatre on his new single ‘That There Is Our Problem’

There's a grimly comic premise at the centre of ‘That There Is Our Problem’. Inspired by a report about a man who attempted to set fire to a church after his wife told him she loved God more than she loved him, Paul Garside’s latest single examines jealousy at its most irrational and destructive.

Here, the Crystal Palace songwriter treats the tale as a compact piece of folk theatre, allowing obsession, wounded pride and misplaced devotion to gather around one increasingly absurd act. The result is dark without becoming heavy-handed, shaped by the kind of narrative distance that lets us recognise both the horror and the bitter humour of the situation.

The arrangement also strengthens that connection to traditional storytelling. His acoustic guitar and voice provide a direct foundation, while Finnish multi-instrumentalist Niilo Sirola adds banjo and Irish bouzouki. Those instruments give the track movement and colour without distracting from the lyrics themselves, helping the song feel broader and more animated than a conventional solo performance.

Recorded at RMS Studios in Selhurst Park, ‘That There Is Our Problem’ benefits from a clear, uncluttered production that allows the instrumental details to remain distinct. Nothing is overplayed, and the restraint gives the song’s narrative enough room to develop naturally. But what makes the single effective is its balance of wit and unease. The story is outlandish, but the emotions behind it are uncomfortably familiar.

Paul Garside turns that contradiction into a sharply observed alt-folk song that is strange, memorable and grounded in the unsettling truth that people are often at their most dangerous when they believe their pain makes perfect sense.