Heaven OUT NOW!

Stream / Download: https://smarturl.it/McHeaven
Released 20th April 2021 on Fortress Sounds via AWAL

Pre-order 'Memory Girl' album: https://smarturl.it/MEMORYGIRL

After delivering her incredibly well-received single ‘A Sun Going Down' which was named Track Of The Week on BBC Introducing Merseyside, as well as receiving plays from Amazing Radio, and tastemaker support from the likes of Wonderland, Record of the Day, The Most Radicalist, When The Horn Blows and much more, emerging alt-pop artist Natalie McCool has now announced the details behind her eagerly-awaited new album ‘Memory Girl’ - set for release on July 30th - alongside the newly unveiled lead track ‘Heaven’.

Having spent the last few years developing and cultivating her sound, ‘Memory Girl’ marks a major milestone in the Liverpudlian’s career to date. Bringing together a wealth of material she has released over the last year, as well as brand new offerings, her new full-length aims to create a fresh and retrospective look at her output so far, giving us a tantalising taste of her glorious direction.

Her newest single ‘Heaven’ looks to showcase exactly what we can expect from this upcoming collection. Much like what we have heard so far, the track adopts a myriad of diverse and exciting pop-rock textures to deliver a blissfully warm and spellbinding sound that perfectly cements her intentions for the new full-length.

Adding about ‘Heaven’, "When I go to heaven, will I remember how it feels?” Heaven is a state of never forgetting how good or right something was, even if you’re viewing it through rose tinted shades, or in hindsight; even if it’s so overpowering it drags you right back to square one - back to that time and place.

"Today I took a walk on the wild side, such brave talk - I thought of you and the tiger died”. Heaven is that safe place where you can envelop yourself with a memory - and although you might feel the 'grown up' thing to do is just move on - you’re spellbound by it.”


Lyrics
Today I put my head in my hands, cried over nothin’ 
Spilt milk and ruined plans
Today I took a walk on the wild side
Such brave talk...I thought of you and the tiger died

When I go to heaven will I remember how it feels? 
When I go to heaven will I remember it was real?

Today I took myself to a happy place
The pain went away, everytime I saw your face

When I go wild, when I go wild and I could scream When I go wild, will you be happy?
When I go to heaven will I remember how it feels? 
When I go to heaven will I remember it was real?

Heaven

Take Me To Your Leader OUT NOW!

Stream / Download: https://smarturl.it/McLeader
Released 16th June 2021 on Fortress Sounds via AWAL

Pre-order 'Memory Girl' album: smarturl.it/MEMORYGIRL

After an impressive 2020, which saw her previously shared singles ‘Closure’ and ‘Devils’ land radio plays on BBC Radio 1, 6Music, BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio and a flying start to 2021 with the release of singles ‘A Sun Going Down’ and ‘Heaven’ continuing her upward ascent - including Track Of The Week’ on BBC Introducing Merseyside for ‘A Sun Going Down’ and picking up tastemaker support from the likes of Wonderland, CLASH, Record of the Day,  Under The Radar, The Most Radicalist, When The Horn Blows and many more, fast-rising singer and songwriter Natalie McCool continues the support for her forthcoming full-length ‘Memory Girl’ with the captivating new single ‘Take Me To Your Leader’.

Bringing back more of that smooth and enticing pop texture she has cultivated for herself, ‘Take Me To Your Leader’ gives us a more glittering insight into what we can expect from her forthcoming full-length. With her own soaring voice layered amongst a bed of bouncing production, her newest release makes for a broad and compelling listen throughout.

Speaking about the new offering, she said, "A lot of 'Memory Girl' is about overcoming imposter syndrome in the world around you, and within yourself - and I think Take Me To Your Leader is the track which most explores this theme.  I’d had this idea of feeling ‘alien’ floating around for a while - and the phrase Take Me To Your Leader is one I’d never really heard in a song before, so at first I was unsure but it really grew on me. 

"It’s about wanting to belong - almost obsessively, wanting to have something valid to say, and these thoughts and feelings spiral until you become fixated “I want to peel your skin, dive for gold, let me in”. 

Having spent the last few years developing and cultivating her sound, ‘Memory Girl’ marks a major milestone in the Liverpudlian’s career to date. Bringing together a wealth of material she has released over the last year, as well as brand new offerings, her new full-length aims to create a fresh and retrospective look at her output so far, giving us a tantalising taste of her glorious direction.

Lyrics
I want the sum of your parts
Give me your head
Give me your heart
And I want to peel your skin
Dive for gold
Let me in

Take me to your leader
Promise you’ll pull me into the fold
Say you’ll never leave me 
‘Cause I never wanna be alone

I want to lose control
To someone else
Who’ll break my fall
And if I give you the key
Can you pull my strings?
Not be seen

Take me to your leader
Promise you’ll pull me into the fold
Say you’ll never leave me 
‘Cause I never wanna be alone

Take me to your leader
Promise you’ll pull me into the light
See that I’ve been bleeding
Baby now I’m just a sorry sight

Now I’m just a sorry sight
Now I’m just a sorry sight

Take me to your leader
Promise you’ll pull me into the fold
Say you’ll never leave me 
‘Cause I don't wanna be alone

Take me to your leader
Promise you’ll pull me into the light
See that I’ve been bleeding
Baby now I’m just a sorry sight

Take Me To Your Leader

This episode I welcome object blue, a techno DJ and producer who was born in Tokyo, raised in Beijing, and is now is based in London. 

Here's a pretty honest and incredibly inspiring chat about access and acceptance to music, disregarding outside opinion to figure things out for yourself, and creating tracks from shady voice notes. 

www.nataliemccool.co.uk
https://objectblue.format.com/

McCool & The Gang #23 object blue

Memory Girl released on Fortress Sounds via AWAL 5th April 2022. 

This anthemic single serves as the album's title track and was written after a hugely successful call-out campaign for her fan's memories & nostalgia to use as inspiration for the song.  

This creates a beautiful contrast to the album which was written about Natalie's childhood & adulthood experiences.

“I’m always looking for ways to challenge myself as an artist and songwriter. Sometimes that curveball move which puts you outside of your comfort zone leads to an amazing discovery, and I love experiencing that. 

Because Memory Girl (the album) is so rooted in my own story and memories, I wanted to ask my fans for theirs - for inspiration, for something more that felt exciting and inclusive. 

What I received from them was above and beyond my initial expectation, I was truly in awe of some of them. The one that resonated with me the most was a man’s story about growing up with his twin sister, growing apart, growing together again through life. 

I really connected with it because it made me think of my own family, parents, grandparents - how they were when they were young and travelling through life in their own stories, growing up. It also felt like a continuation of the album - which has themes of mirroring, and twin imagery.  I was so connected to it that when I came to write the song it made me very emotional.

There is real weight attached to creating work around someone else’s story, and I wanted to celebrate and respect that. I’m really proud of the song and production.”

Memory Girl

Recorded live in Austin, Texas! I chat to both Sarah Corcoran from Irish band PILLOW QUEENS & US indie pop artist Anna Fox Rochinski respectively about their time at SXSW... James Corden, Madonna and the best (worst?) band names, ever.

McCool & The Gang #27 SXSW Sarah Corcoran (PILLOW QUEENS) // Anna Fox Rochinski (US)

This month I welcome the wonderful Geordie singer-songwriter and front-man of Future Humans Afnan Prince.

We chat about being kind to yourself, Jeff Buckley, how singers are weirdly really good at hilarious voice impersonations (Gollum, anyone?) female underrepresentation in the music industry and our magical approach to wordsmithery.

McCool & The Gang #32 Afnan Prince (Future Humans)

'Show Me What You're Made Of' released on Fortress Sounds via AWAL 30th November 2022.

Stream / Download: https://ampl.ink/SMWYMO

Lyrics

I grew up, I grew up again
Youngest of three the most carefree
Easy to love

I was always so self assured always rounding down and then squaring up
I would find the romance and jump right in
I used to be somebody chasing something

I messed up, I did it again
Rookie mistake
Can't catch a break
Running away

What's the joke? Am I self assured?
Cause I'm backing down even when I'm squaring up
Smell the bull… and jump right in
Looking for somebody to push me around again

Show me what you're made of (come on)
Show me what you're made of (come on)

When I sleep I'm dreaming deep
I wake up with this memory
Of love and trust and self esteem
And all the things that I believed

Will truth and wisdom come to me?
These eyes that search so hopelessly
To find the cracks in all the panes
The antidote to running away

This broken record on repeat
Stuck in the groove of autonomy
Stuck in the groove and sinking deep
Stuck in the groove so find your feet

Show me what you're made of (come on)
Show me what you're made of (come on)
If only I could...

Show Me What You're Made Of

This month I chat with the very talented singer & topliner Katy Alex about writing for a multitude of genres, amassing over 5 million streams on some of her recent releases, and how we're both obsessed with space.

IG handles
@nataliemccool
@katyalexmusic

McCool & The Gang #34 Katy Alex

I chat to fantastic producer & mixing engineer Mario Leal about his musical beginnings in Mexico, my new single ‘Show Me What You’re Made Of’, going to uni in Liverpool together (SUCH FUN!) and the importance of collaboration.

#35 Mario Leal

"take it slow, draw it out, go on, dig it out"

DOWNLOAD FROM ITUNES NOW:
US https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/dig-it-out-single/id907152519
UK https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/dig-it-out-single/id907152519

WATCH OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO NOW:
http://youtu.be/sqXrDOJv3_k

'Dig It Out' released September 15th 2014 on Young & Lost Club.
Written & performed by Natalie McCool. Produced and mixed by David Berger of the band Outfit, whose debut album 'Performance' (released on Double Denim Records August 2012) has received critical acclaim from The Guardian online to Pitchfork.
www.facebook.com/outfitoutfitoutfit

www.nataliemccool.co.uk
www.facebook.com/nataliemccoolofficial
www.youtube.com/nataliemccoolmusic
www.twitter.com/nataliemccool


Dig It Out Lyrics

Came as clear as crystal
Rolled in with the tide
I drew it as a symbol
I knew it was a sign

Started with a circle
and then became a sphere
And round and round we stumbled
and in my mind I feared

I burnt myself trying to touch the sun
I burnt myself trying to touch the sun

Where did you go? did you go? 
Come on, did you know? did you know? 
Take it, take it slow, draw it out, go on, 
Dig it out, dig it out, 
Go on.

Now here’s a little riddle
I’d love for you to say
"I’ll be here 'til my days are done"
But you took them all away

And now you throw me spinning
And on my wheel I turn
Waiting for some better fortune to take
the sting out of the burn

I hurt myself trying to touch the sun
I burnt myself trying to touch the sun

Where did you go? did you go? 
Come on, did you know? did you know? 
Take it, take it slow, draw it out, go on, 
Dig it out, dig it out, 
Go on.

Did you go, Did you go 
Did you know Did you know 
Take it slow draw it out 
Dig it out dig it out 

Where did you go? did you go?
Come on, did you know? did you know? 
Take it, take it slow, draw it out,
Go on, dig it out. 

Did you go, Did you go 
Did you know Did you know 
Take it slow draw it out 
Dig it out dig it out

Dig It Out

Contact: hannah@exitpr.co.uk

Please repost/comment!

Watch Pins Official music video:
https://youtu.be/zj_HgrbA2tw

I can feel the pins in the lining of the bed we made...

You’ve stuck like a splinter in my finger
You know how much damage there is to be done
And so I have to take a hot needle to get in there
'Cos you prick and chip away just for fun

Sometimes I think we’re like the tortoise and the hare
And I just followed the trail you tread, like a thread
And we wove in and we wove out of each other
So close I couldn’t see the patterns

But I can feel the pins in the lining of the bed we made
I know there’s still an ache in the stitches that were sewn
It came on like a white hot shock and I know it’s the end
I don’t wanna play your pretend pretend pretend

I’ll fall to my knees and I’ll purge you out
And when you’re gone I hope I’ll feel like we never met
Thank god I didn’t have to dig too deep
'Cos you never had my heart in the end

But I can feel the pins in the lining of the bed we made
I know there’s still an ache in the stitches that were sewn
It came on like a white hot shock and I know it’s the end
I don’t wanna play your pretend pretend pretend
I don’t wanna play your pretend pretend pretend

I know what it feels like to be hurt
I know what it feels like to find cracks in the surface
I know what it feels like to be dragged through the dirt
I know what that feels like

And I can feel the pins in the lining of the bed we made
I know there’s still an ache in the stitches that were sewn
It came on like a white hot shock and I know it’s the end
I don’t wanna play your pretend pretend pretend

Pins in the lining of the bed we made
I know there’s still an ache in the stitches that were sewn
White hot shock
And I know it’s the end

All tracks written by Natalie McCool
Recorded and produced by Dave Berger at Lathbury House
Mixed by Chris Taylor and Dave Berger at Parr Street Studios

www.nataliemccool.co.uk
www.facebook.com/nataliemccoolofficial
www.youtube.com/nataliemccoolmusic
www.twitter.com/nataliemccool

The Great Unknown

Pins

Please repost/comment! 

Oh dagger in the dark
Oh danger in my heart
I love you so
Oh don’t you go...

A stepping stone
Somewhere unknown
That I’ve never been before
I traced a map
I know a track
That I can follow all alone

I’m walking on a glass floor
Stepping through a trap door
Looking to the great unknown
Living in a tin can
Put my heart in your hand
Watch it as you throw it overboard

Oh dagger in the dark
Oh danger in my heart
I love you so
Oh don’t you go

Oh stranger in the street
Oh stop my heart beat
I need you so
And don’t you go

All the different trails
Your head your tail
I could swallow them all
If I drew them on
Your skin your palm
I could trace them to my own

So lead me through the dark
Take me to the part
Where I’m knocking on your door
Is it love or hate
Do I believe in fate?
Or do we make our own

I’m walking on a glass floor
Stepping through a trap door
Looking to the great unknown
Living in a tin can
Put my heart in your hand
Watching as you throw it overboard

Oh dagger in the dark
Oh danger in my heart
I love you so
Oh don’t you go

Oh stranger in the street
Oh stop my heart beat
I need you so
And don’t you go

Oh why everytime we meet
I die and it tastes so sweet
Oh why everytime we meet
I die and it tastes so sweet

All tracks written by Natalie McCool
Recorded and produced by Dave Berger at Lathbury House
Mixed by Chris Taylor and Dave Berger at Parr Street Studios
Re Mixed by Rich Turvey at Parr Street Studios

www.nataliemccool.co.uk
www.facebook.com/nataliemccoolofficial
www.youtube.com/nataliemccoolmusic
www.twitter.com/nataliemccool

Oh Danger

Contact: hannah@exitpr.co.uk

Lyrics
Come say it first hand
Don't be a shy man
I'll speak if you can
It's worth the waiting

I'm ticking over I can't believe I'm sober
Think you should know that
Your love is like

A cardiac arrest so I'll wear my brand new dress
Red carpet arteries and champagne capillaries
Can I feel your pulse again?
Your blood is my best friend
And now my oxygen is the b-beat of your heart

The ground is shaking 
No I'm not fakin'
I'm holding onto
I know I've got you

It's so thrilling 
The feeling that you're giving
So this is living
And your love is like

A cardiac arrest so I'll wear my brand new dress
Red carpet arteries and champagne capillaries
Can I feel your pulse again?
Your blood is my best friend

And now my oxygen is the b-beat of your heart

B-beat of your heart, your love is like 
B-beat of your heart
B-beat of your heart, your love is like
B-beat of your heart

Now we're flowing, back to back we're rolling
Got each other knowing 
This love is like
I get dizzy whenever you're with me
It's such a feeling
And your love is like

A cardiac arrest so I'll wear my brand new dress
Red carpet arteries and champagne capillaries
Can I feel your pulse again?
Your blood is my best friend
And now my oxygen is the b-beat of your heart

A cardiac arrest so I'll wear my brand new dress
Red carpet arteries and champagne capillaries
Can I feel your pulse again?
Your blood is my best friend
And now my oxygen is the b-beat of your heart

Cardiac Arrest

Contact: hannah@exitpr.co.uk

I had a dream last night
The world on the upside
I wanted to let go
I wanted you to know
That the arrow in my side
Been there all my life
It’s hard to cut things clean
But we'll do it as a team

Lets build a fortress
And we’ll hold up the walls
Lets build a fortress
And we’ll never fall

Walls that have no seam
A tower tall as dreams
Let go and hold my hand
We’ll do it cos we can 

Those that come to hate
Are screaming at the gate
Try to understand
That we’re royals of this land

Lets build a fortress
We’ll hold up the walls
Lets build a fortress
And we’ll never fall

Lets build a fortress
It’ll be our shield
Lets build a fortress
And we’ll make it real

And we’ll make it unbreakable
And we’ll set each stone
Keep the blueprints in our fingertips
So no one else can know
And we’ll crush the seeds of doubt
Til we rule them all
And we’ll lay the fragments out
In a perfect whole

Lets build a fortress
We’ll hold up the walls
Lets build a fortress
And we’ll never fall

Lets build a fortress
It’ll be our shield
Lets build a fortress
And we’ll make it real

Fortress

Management:  simon@tri-tone.co.uk and sam@tri-tone.co.uk

Fortress (Desert Sound Colony Remix)

'Pins' from new album The Great Unknown

Buy digital album: http://apple.co/2dKvVSv
Buy physical album: http://www.nataliemccool.co.uk/shop-products-merchandise/
Spotify here: https://open.spotify.com/album/6LET8chovDW22QhNCXBxkp

Pins (Radio Edit)

Listen on Spotify HERE: https://spoti.fi/2HSRzUD

What if Pandora was a hero?
And Eve a hero too?
Mary Magdelene our saviour
Roxanne a role model
All the world looks so familiar
But with a greener hue 
And the air smells so much clearer
The sea a brighter blue and there is
No restriction to

All the things you learned in the classroom
With a girl’s childlike point of view
That never shatters

It’s a woman’s world

Where did all the men go?
Did we pack them off to Mars?
Pull the rug from underneath them
Did we pour them into jars?
Cos all the world looks so familiar
But with a greener hue 
And the air smells so much clearer
The sea a brighter blue and there is
New perspective to

The things that you were told you couldn’t do
Walking on the moon in high heel shoes
Forget everything you learned in the classroom
Cos I don’t hear any rifles or the engines of fast cars 
Where are you now?

It’s a woman’s world

Woman's World

'Devils' OUT NOW

STREAM / DOWNLOAD: https://smarturl.it/McDevils
Released 25th September 2020 on Fortress Sounds via AWAL

Speaking on 'Devils', Natalie shared:

"Devils is essentially about allowing yourself every one in a while to give into emotions that are traditionally seen as negative, and that’s okay, because we are only human and need to experience and accept these feelings to be whole. I think giving someone the space and support to say anything and everything they are experiencing or thinking and for that also to be ok is an amazing way to accept and move on, in a way it’s taking away the stigma and shame of these feelings and turning the experience into something positive that will make you stronger."

BIO
Making her first steps into music when she won a national song writing competition judged by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, Natalie McCool has excelled.

Releasing her album ‘The Great Unknown’ in 2016, it has made tastemakers across the board fans of her exceptional art, with notable supports with Aurora & Jamie Lawson, & acclaim from The Sunday Times, Q, Pigeons & Planes & Wonderland as well as BBC Radio 1 DJs Huw Stephens & Alice Levine.

Fully wrapped up, her forthcoming album is a fine collection of songs which channel her raw, inimitable writing style. Partly co-written with The Wombats' Daniel Haggis, they capture and crystallize her memories from both childhood and adulthood, weaving deeply intimate stories that channel life's most vital thoughts and feelings like love, jealousy and loss into a skewed mixture of lilting yet gloriously catchy pop songs.

LYRICS
Tell me what you're feeling I'll tell you it's normal
Tell you it's human, that it ain't awful
Tell me what you're thinking I'll say that it's ok
You're only human, so don't be afraid

There was a devil in me yesterday, a devil in me yesterday
But don't worry, I'm ok
You're only human

Say what you gotta say, dance with the devil anyway
'Cos you're human
Say what you gotta say, knock him off your shoulder everyday
'Cos you're human

Tell me all your secrets I promise I'll listen
And I cross my heart, I'll keep them
Tell me what you're scared of I'll tell you it's ok 
Tell you it's human, so don't run away

There was a devil in me yesterday, running in my blood and through my veins
But don't worry, I'm ok
You're only human

Say what you gotta say, dance with the devil anyway
'Cos you're human
Say what you gotta say, knock him off your shoulder everyday
'Cos you're human

Say what you gotta say, devil gonna dance with you anyway
'Cos you're human
'Cos you're human

Say what you gotta say, dance with the devil anyway
'Cos you're human
Say what you gotta say, knock him off your shoulder everyday
'Cos you're human

Say what you gotta say, and dance with the devil
Say what you gotta say, dancing with the devil
Say what you gotta say, and dance with the devil
Say what you gotta say, and dance with the devil

Devils

A Sun Going Down OUT NOW!

Stream / Download: https://smarturl.it/ASunGoingDown
Released 24th February 2021 on Fortress Sounds via AWAL

After an impressive 2020, which saw her previously shared singles ‘Closure’ and ‘Devils’ land radio plays on BBC Radio 1, 6Music, BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio and tastemaker support from the likes of CLASH, Under The Radar, God Is In The TV, and Breaking More Waves to name but a few, emerging alt-pop artist Natalie McCool is now ready to kick off her 2021 in style as she returns with her latest euphoric offering ‘A Sun Going Down’.

Lifted from her forthcoming new album, ‘A Sun Going Down’ sees her channel more of that rich and vibrant sound that has impressed so many of late. With her bold and effortless vocals layered over a warm and effervescent bed of sweeping synths and pulsing production, her latest release cements her as one of the more captivating and enticing names rising right now.

Speaking about her new single, she said, "Written & recorded just before lockdown, this song was birthed at a very tumultuous time for me personally, and as the rest of 2020 proved, professionally too.
  
“This song is not about the obvious things that happened last year, more about my personal mindset and feelings, it’s about the dawning of intuition, a slow but staggering realisation that you don’t need a person, and the finality of walking forward without them - forever."

LYRICS
There was a vision, in a dream
Caught a glimpse on my TV screen
Like a wave, mindless tide
Pushing out what I tried to hide

You don’t blind me anymore
I see holes in the fabric
You don’t blind me anymore

You’re a sun going down in the sky
Holding onto someone far behind
You’re a sun
A sun going down
You’re a sun
A sun going down

Caught a shiver, fever dream
Pull me out of this waking sleep
Open your eyes, swallow the tide
Easy as breathing how I leave you behind

You don’t blind me anymore
I see holes in the fabric
You don’t blind me anymore

You’re a sun going down in the sky
Holding onto someone far behind
You’re a sun
A sun going down
You’re a sun
A sun going down

Now the energy’s gone, what’s the point in holding on?
Let go of my horizon, let go

You’re a sun going down in the sky
Holding onto someone far behind
You’re a sun going down in the sky
Holding onto someone far behind
You’re a sun
A sun going down
You’re a sun
A sun going down

You’re a sun
A sun going down
You’re a sun
A sun going down

A Sun Going Down

Contact:
cath[at]mostdeffo.com

Singer, songwriter & guitarist. 

Excelling in razor-sharp alt-pop, Natalie McCool’s songs have every hallmark of great pop music with a fresh twist of modern influences.

“Mesmerising lilt-pop gem.”
The Sunday Times Hottest Track

Natalie McCool

Pinned to spotlight

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