Following the critical success of her 2017 album “There Are No Saints“, Edinburgh songwriter Siobhan Wilson returns with new single ‘Marry You’, the first taste of her adventurous new LP “The Departure”. A hymn to the power and pleasure of autonomy, Wilson’s latest journey is one that documents the artist ready to take matters into her own hands, to ask the most important question of all: what are you waiting for?
Raised in Elgin, Siobhan Wilson began studying classical piano and cello at an early age, later playing in youth orchestras across Scotland. But it was her fascination with French culture that prompted the artist to take one of her biggest steps – moving to France after she finished high school in Edinburgh. In Paris, Siobhan began developing her songwriting skills, going to open mic nights and immersing herself in French musical tradition, which remains an important creative reference point to her to this day.
After returning to Scotland, Siobhan’s work began garnering attention across the UK, with Lauren Laverne an early champion of her 2014 single ‘Dear God’. By the time “There Are No Saints” arrived in 2017, the floodgates had opened; after being named 6 Music’s Album of the Day and support by 6 Music sessions with Cerys Matthews and Vic Galloway, the record was nominated for Scottish Album of the Year, eventually placing in the top ten. Gathering praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, NPR, Drowned in Sound, The 405, DIY magazine and various corners of the Scottish press; tours followed supporting Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert in the UK, and later a Canadian tour with Scottish music legends The Proclaimers.
If There Are No Saints was lauded for its more fragile moments, “Marry You” takes a bold new direction altogether. As well as explicitly dealing with the subject of marriage proposals, the song strikes a chord with anyone who’s ever rejected the idea that life is about waiting to be asked. “I’m at an age where some of my female friends wonder, ‘When will he propose to me? What is he thinking?’” Wilson explains. “And I wrote a song that’s like: you propose to him, you are allowed to do that now.”
Recently premiered on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour (BBC Radio 6 Music), “Marry You” is a departure in every sense. Sonically more expansive and guitar-driven than her previous work – a sound that was engineered in part by Siobhan’s new Baritone Gretsch, deployed to “cover a deeper and darker range” – it’s the sound of an artist exploring the sharper elements in her art, driven by the distorted and percussive energy that burns through it.
“If the last album opened myself up by exposing my vulnerabilities, “Marry You” is opening myself up sonically.” Ladies and gentlemen, Siobhan Wilson is stepping into less chartered territories. Are you ready for departure?
“The Departure” is out on Suffering Fools Records on 10th May 2019.
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