Hilary Woods‘ 2018 debut album Colt was an easily overlooked album highlight of the year, thanks to its fragile nocturnal goth folk. If you don’t know it yet I highly recommend you to give it a spin, especially now that a follow-up is on its way. Birthmarks has just been announced for a March 13 release via Saddle Creek and it looks like an even more intense right into the heart of darkness. The album was recorded whilst heavily pregnant between Galway and Oslo in the winter of 2019 and according to the press release Hilary Woods explores “the oscillating and volatile processes of selfhood and becoming, hidden gestational growth, and the birthing of the Self, amidst continuous social and personal change.” Alright, so much for that. And judging from the album’s opening track Tongues Of Wild Boar we can surely expect something more daring this time. It’s a noisy and slightly disturbing lullaby the artist unravels here and it makes me quite hyped up for this album, I must confess.