After releasing a debut dream-pop EP as lovespells back in 2018, German-Brazilian songwriter Gloria de Oliveira had a bit of a breakout moment in 2022 when she released a collaborative album with David Lynch collaborator Dean Hurley via Sacred Bones (as an intro, I’d recommend checking out their dreamy cover of Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser’s “All Flowers in Time Bend Towards the Sun”). Now she’s returning to her own La Double Via label to release a solo record titled The Lying Swans, a collection of similarly ethereal tracks that cross over into the witchy realm of dark folk music explored by Emma Ruth Rundle or Chelsea Wolfe. In lieu of Hurley’s new-age ambient sound design, she tapped Randall Dunn—who’s previously worked with Anna von Hausswolff, Marissa Nadler, and Zola Jesus—to enhance her vision.
The album’s lead single “Fading Faces” sets the scene for the rest of the track list, with that shift in sound immediately evident. “This is not only the first single, but also the very first piece of music I wrote when I started working on the album,” she shares. “It was also the first song that Randall Dunn and I later recorded together in Iceland. In many ways, it’s the reason the album even exists—‘Fading Faces’ required me to allow myself this degree of vulnerability that permeates The Lying Swans. Musically, it still follows the tradition of my previous albums to some extent, while simultaneously drawing on new modes of expression.”
de Oliveira also filmed a video for the track, which positions her as a siren belting out the song on a rocky coastline. Check that out below, and expect The Lying Swans to drop on October 30.
