St. Catherine’s Child – New Eden (2025)
In ‘New Eden’, the second single from her forthcoming debut album This Might Affect You, St. Catherine’s Child (Ilana Zsigmond) delivers an exploration of life’s most challenging emotional contradiction: finding love amid grief.
The track showcases Zsigmond’s signature wistful vocals floating effortlessly over delicate indie-folk instrumentation, creating an intimate space where joy and sorrow coexist in uncomfortable harmony. What begins as a gentle piano meditation gradually unfolds over six mesmerising minutes, building with thoughtful restraint toward powerful, almost operatic choruses propelled by driving drums.
Drawing from her experience of meeting her partner shortly before losing her father, ‘New Eden’ navigates the dissonance between these opposing emotional forces with remarkable authenticity. The song’s expansive structure allows Zsigmond to fully explore this complex emotional terrain, with each crescendo conveying both the weight of loss and the lift of newfound connection.
What makes this single particularly affecting is its refusal to simplify the grieving process. Instead of presenting grief as a linear journey, Zsigmond acknowledges how life continues to unfold regardless of our readiness, bringing both pain and unexpected beauty. Her lyrics convey this complex reality with a poet’s precision, finding hope in the darkness without diminishing the weight of loss.
‘New Eden’ serves as a compelling preview of This Might Affect You – an album that promises to be as musically diverse as it is emotionally resonant. Created in collaboration with ten fellow songwriters who’ve experienced recent loss, the upcoming release (due 15th June 2025, deliberately on Father’s Day) takes a chronological approach to grief, documenting both the period leading up to her father’s death and the healing process that followed.
For listeners familiar with St. Catherine’s Child’s previous work, including her breakthrough single ‘Burden’ and her Every Generation EP, ‘New Eden’ represents a natural evolution of her artistic voice while hinting at the broader sonic palette of her debut album.
With its raw production approach (recorded live with Mercury-nominated producer David Glover and mastered at Abbey Road Studios), ‘New Eden’ strikes a delicate balance between polish and authenticity, much like the emotional journey it documents. It’s a promising indication that St. Catherine’s Child’s full-length debut will be worth the wait.
Find out more about St. Catherine’s Child on her Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
