There’s something quietly magnetic about Lōwli’s debut album Window in the Woods. The project of Irish composer and songwriter Róisín Lowry, Lōwli has been steadily carving a name for herself in the Irish neo-classical scene over the past few years, and this full-length release feels like the moment where it all comes into focus.
Recorded in Treehouse Studios, Co. Wicklow, Window in the Woods is a beautifully brooding collection that blurs the lines between modern classical composition and dark, cinematic pop. It’s the kind of album that creeps up on you, full of hushed intensity and emotional precision.
At its core lies a vintage 1920s Forster upright piano, whose soft imperfections lend a deeply human quality to the record. Around that, Lōwli layers sweeping strings, atmospheric percussion and ambient textures, creating something that feels both fragile and expansive. Her voice—rich, controlled, and hauntingly pure—floats above it all, particularly on standout tracks “Undone” and “Ground Above You,” where she balances vulnerability with quiet strength.
The instrumental moments are just as affecting. Pieces like “Lament” and “Islands Are Falling” strip things back to their emotional essence, evoking the restrained melancholy of Agnes Obel or Nils Frahm. It’s music that demands stillness, the kind of record you put on late at night, when the outside world finally fades away.
Lōwli describes the album as “an internal response to the outside world,” and you can hear that push and pull throughout. Themes of identity, mortality, detachment and belonging weave through the music like shifting light. There’s always a sense of contrast—dark and light, isolation and connection—and it’s in that space between opposites that the album finds its power.
Having already earned praise from the likes of The Irish Times, The Thin Air, and BBC Radio, not to mention a sold-out headline show at Smock Alley Theatre, Lōwli’s reputation as one of Ireland’s most exciting contemporary composers is well deserved. Window in the Woods not only confirms it, it elevates it.
This is a record that doesn’t shout for attention, but it lingers long after it ends. Thoughtful, cinematic, and quietly devastating, Window in the Woods is a debut that cements Lōwli as an artist with both vision and emotional depth.
