Galway folk musician Reylta announces her debut album Everything Unsaved Will Be Lost with her poignant new single ‘Sightseeing’ , out Monday, 17 July, 2023 . Reylta will release her album on Wednesday, 11 October, 2023 , a record she describes as a “macabre lullaby”.
‘Sightseeing’ is mellifluous, lulling you into a false sense of security until Reylta unveils the track’s mournful core. Over acoustic guitar, Reylta sings in her honeyed voice about an oppressive relationship: “Every moment I am moving I am picking up your habits / Oh I wish I could stand it.”
“The song is about losing yourself in a relationship when you are with a more dominant person. Their friends become your friends, their hobbies are yours, and by the end of it you’ve lost most of who you were and stopped growing into who you’re meant to be,” Reylta explains. “In my imagined story the protagonist is falling from atop of a construction crane. They have become disconnected from their emotions, preferring to mirror their partner’s than feel their own.”
This latest song is the fourth single off Everything Unsaved Will Be Lost , following previous releases ‘October’ , ‘Lucifer’s Love / Leannán an Diabhail’ , and ‘Closer’ . The record lets listeners into Reylta’s world and the art that she’s been crafting for the past decade and recorded with her band in Donegal during May 2022.
“I wanted to invite strangers to take a seat in the back of my mind, understand how I see the world, and feel the stories I’d like to tell,” Reylta says.
The album title comes from the video games Reylta used to play as a kid on the Nintendo. However, there’s another layer to Everything Unsaved Will Be Lost : a desire to leave her mark on the world.
“I’m doing all of this for my younger self. I know how hard I have worked and all I have made, but if I don’t preserve some of this in recordings I will leave here and no one will know the hundreds of songs I have written. I do not wish to live forever but I hope my art does,” Reylta shares.
The previous album singles have been championed by Irish radio, including RTÉ Radio 1 , RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta , RTÉ 2XM , Galway Bay FM , and KCLR FM . LOUD WOMEN praised Reylta’s “smooth guitar tones and enchanting vocals” on ‘Lucifer’s Love / Leannán an Diabhail’, while Americana UK noted that she gives “a modern makeover” to the Irish tradition of storytelling. She has also been interviewed by the likes of the Irish Independent and Irish Examiner .
Reylta was previously highlighted in the Three’s City Stages initiative and tipped as one of Radio Nova’s New Local Hero finalists. Her music is steeped in Irish traditions and heritage, combining poetic lyrics, luscious string arrangements, and rich choral harmonies to create a sound both familiar and wholly her own.
‘Sightseeing’ is available on all major streaming platforms now.
