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Mar 28, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Simon Dawson

Glasgow-based indie folk singer/songwriter Neev debuted in 2019, with her single, “Burning to Dust.” Since then, she’s released a pair of EPs, 2020’s Forgiving Light and 2021’s Currant, cementing her style of intricate instrumental arrangements, intimate lyrical observations, and potent emotional songwriting. Last month, she shared another new track, “Fast Patterns,” and today she’s back with news of her forthcoming debut album, Katherine, due out April 28th via Trapped Animal.

At its core, Katherine is a meditation on the identities we all inhabit. “Each song explores the different facets of an individual,” explains Neev. “Them as someone’s child, someone’s sibling, someone’s partner. Someone as the gender (in my case, female) they identify as, someone as the job they do,” she continues.

Accompanying the announcement, she has also shared a new track, “The House,” premiering with Under the Radar.

With “The House,” Neev crafts a heart-wrenching exploration of femininity, gender roles, and missed chances. She steps into the shoes of a housewife, one who once had her own dreams and ambition but was forced to set them aside. She now feels trapped by domesticity, with the house acting as her prison: “And the house gets darker everyday / I know the light it breaks and then escapes / We made mistake after mistake / We make the same mistakes.” Meanwhile, Neev traces her story via lilting melodies and soulful string arrangements, filling the track with dramatic crescendos and weighty confessions. However, the most affecting moments come when the instrumental flourishes fall away, leaving only Neev’s shadowy vocals as she evokes a deep sense of longing for a life unlived.

Neev says of the single, “When writing this song I certainly had in mind the stereotypical trope of a classic 50s housewife, stuck at home with a very prescribed set of tasks and interests they were allowed to explore. In this song, and in other songs on the album, I found myself exploring the woman’s relationship to art and their constraints within that. Historically, women with creative interests were often encouraged to explore those things as hobbies rather than occupations and I think this song touches on the idea that there existed a lot of women in history that weren’t able to explore who they truly were creatively due to societal constraints.”

Check out the song below, along with the accompanying music video, directed by Felix Ursell. Katherine is due out everywhere on April 28th.