Sister Ghost has announced her debut album Beyond The Water, set for release on October 31. She also shared the accompanying lead single ‘Dark Matter’.

Recorded in Los Angeles with the producer Brad Wood (known for his work on Liz Phair’s Exile on Guyville and Veruca Salt’s American Thighs), the album features Jeff Friedl on drums, who has also played with A Perfect Circle and is currently the drummer with DEVO.

Speaking of her new single ‘Dark Matter’, Derry based artist Shannon Delores O'Neill – better known as Sister Ghost – said: “it’s one of my favourites from the album, it’s bittersweet and nostalgic and it’s where the album title is lifted from. Musically it’s influenced by some of my favourite big-sounding 80s bands like Simple Minds, Tears for Fears, The Call etc.

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“I wrote the lyrics for this song after being moved to tears watching the French film Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Céline Sciamma, as I really felt it echoed some of my own queer experiences. That’s also why there’s some French in the bridge section of the song, which translates to ‘my love, she glows in the fire’.

“The chorus phrase ‘dark matter, pour over me’ just came to me out of nowhere, and when I looked into it I found that dark matter in science is defined as being unseen or invisible, so then it made sense to me to use it as a device to convey the alienation and sadness queer people feel when they have to hide their true selves or walk away from relationships due to queer-specific circumstance.”

O’Neil has a background playing in bands from the age of 12, and saw Sister Ghost as an opportunity to explore the freedom of a solo musician for the first time. When asked about her inspirations, she cites artists such as Sonic Youth, Veruca Salt, Patti Smith and Kate Bush.

Listen to ‘Dark Matter’ below: