Premiere: Wallgrin opens the Underworld Songbook with “Dovetail”
Across two records, Wallgrin has quietly been laying the foundations for something much larger than a collection of songs, and with forthcoming album Underworld Songbook, that vision finally comes into focus. Drawing from Celtic folk traditions, experimental pop, fantasy, and the emotional weight of memory, the Toronto-via-Vancouver composer, vocalist, and violinist has created what they describe as a series of "Songspells" guiding listeners through an imagined Underworld.
The journey begins with "Dovetail," a sweeping first glimpse into that universe that pairs fiddle reels with breakbeats and imagines messages of love travelling across millennia. Accompanied by a handmade visualizer inspired by forgotten fantasy computer games and Bronze Age mythology, the single offers listeners their first step across the threshold. Ahead of its release, we caught up with Wallgrin to discuss building the mythology behind Underworld Songbook and how they’re returning to their musical roots.
REVERIE: For readers discovering Wallgrin for the first time, how would you describe this current chapter of your artistic journey, and what does Underworld Songbook represent for you?
You’ve found me at the perfect moment. I’ve spent two albums and many years honing the world and story that I’m bringing to you in Underworld Songbook. At its core, it’s a journey through the subconscious mind —the cycles of grief and joy that come with being alive— in the shape of a magical fantasy. I’ve got enough lore to fill a novel or three, and I’m excited to slowly reveal it all… The Underworld Songbook is a set of ancient scrolls, a guide to the supernatural realm that exists both beneath and within our own. It contains nine songs, or “Songspells”, that guide the traveller across the Threshold, into the abyss, and back again.
REVERIE: "Dovetail" serves as our first invitation into the world of Underworld Songbook. Why did this feel like the right song to introduce the album, and what does it reveal about the journey ahead?
Honestly, I just love this song. I feel like it’s really sonically representative of where I’ve come from and where I want to go next. It’s the third song on the album, and I wanted to thrust listeners right into the middle of the adventure, when there’s no turning back. It’s about longing for connection and sending messages to someone you love through Deep Time, across millennia — very “I’ll find you in every lifetime” coded. It reflects a turning point in my personal life, too. In January, I moved from Vancouver to Toronto, never having fully uprooted from my hometown before then. So much yearning is embedded in these cities for me now. There are people and things I dearly love in both places, but there’s something wistful about never being able to hold them all at once.
REVERIE: Your Celtic musical roots are woven throughout "Dovetail," particularly through the fiddle reel at its heart. How has your cultural heritage shaped your songwriting, and what made this the right moment to embrace that part of your lineage more openly?
Celtic and Scandinavian folk music has always drawn me in, whether by interest or by ancestry. Back in the day, I was in a Celtic fiddle band of about 20 teenagers which became a pretty big part of my life for many years. Growing up playing and listening to this music, those kinds of melodic ornaments and chord progressions always find a way into my writing. There were actually a few years where I left the violin (which I used with a loop station) out of my live performances almost completely, because I worried it was becoming the most memorable thing about my project, a sort of gimmick. But, following its absence, I now understand what it brings to the music that can’t be replicated by anything else: there’s a freedom and feel that is so singular to the fiddle. Underworld Songbook feels like coming back full circle to my origins, an integration of all the musical selves I’ve been throughout my life.
REVERIE: The visualizer feels like stepping into a forgotten fantasy computer game. If Dovetail were a game, who would your character be, and what quest would they be setting out to complete?
My character is a Void Ranger, one who navigates the Underworld on the Sea of Time. They’ve been trapped in the Underworld with the other Voidfolk for thousands of years, with their ultimate goal being to one day return to the material plane. It’s been so long since these people have lived on Earth that it’s all just a hazy memory — in the same way we have mythologies about the Underworld, the Voidfolk have developed their own mythologies about us. They cast Songspells to send messages across the Threshold, hoping to somehow tether themselves back to people on Earth.
REVERIE: If you could soundtrack the Underworld with just a handful of records—your own aside—which albums would you choose, and why?
The Book of Secrets by Loreena McKennitt: This is the vibe-setter. As soon as you start the album, you feel transported to somewhere ancient and timeless.
So Sorry So Slow by Adult Jazz: Strange and chaotic, beautiful and poignant. It takes its time to reveal itself. Even though I’ve listened to it many times, I’m always struck by something new and unexpected in this album — much like a journey through the Underworld.
Odessey and Oracle by The Zombies: It’s so weird and fun but has an undeniable emotional core, there’s something quite melancholy about it. It’s got the balance needed to sustain oneself on a trip to the abyss.
REVERIE: With "Dovetail" marking the beginning of a new album cycle, what are you most excited for listeners to experience as they begin exploring the world of Underworld Songbook?
I’m looking forward to inviting everyone into the world I’ve been living in for the past few years — there’s as much depth and detail to it as anyone is willing to explore. I’m really proud of these songs and I love performing them live, they just feel so authentically Wallgrin. It’s honestly what I’ve been working towards since I first started this project. The Songbook has only just been cracked open, and I hope you’ll all stick around to see what else lies deep in the Underworld…
