PRE-ORDER: Abigail Lapell “Shadow Child” LP (Lavender Eco-Mix Vinyl)

THIS IS A PRE-ORDER: We expect this to ship on or around MAY 8th, 2026. Any items ordered with this will be held until they can ship together. If you need other items faster please place a separate order for those items.

Every mother has a unique story. One thing is true for every mother, though: Theres no deadline quite like a pregnancy.

Award-winning Toronto singer-songwriter Abigail Lapell was pregnant with her first child when she booked studio time on Vancouver Island to make an album about motherhood. The nine songs on Shadow Child one for each month of gestation had to be ready before then, and her return flight was booked on the last day she could safely fly in her third trimester.

Working with producer Colin Stewart (Dan Mangan, Black Mountain), Lapell finished her songs in the studio and on rural walks beside the Pacific Ocean. She enlisted some of her favourite singers, all British Columbians, all mothers: Frazey Ford, Jill Barber, Pharis Romero. Theyre all people with unique, distinctive voices, she says, which is what Im drawn to.

Musically, Lapell was looking for a stark, acoustic sound, as opposed to 2024s Juno Award-nominated Anniversary (recorded in Niagara with Great Lake Swimmers Tony Dekker) and 2022s acclaimed Stolen Time (recorded in Montreal with Howard Bilerman, featuring E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons).

Lapells road to motherhood was fraught, involving years of IVF and a 2023 miscarriage that she experienced on stage while on tour. (She finished her set.) Her son was born in November 2024. The song cycle of Shadow Child covers joy and loss, using metaphors from Maritime tragedy, little cannibals, reproductive health, acquiring language, and lives altered by the arrival of a newborn. The title track refers to ultrasound imaging of a liminal person that doesnt quite exist yet, says Lapell. Their status is ontologically blurry.

Shadow Child arrives May 8 Mothers Day weekend – on CD, Digital, and Lavender vinyl LP. Singles Hazel, Shadow Child, and So Long roll out starting in January.

street date 5/8/2026