Dublin-born singer-songwriter Sorcha Richardson has announced her new album, Draw the Outline, due September 11 via Faction Records. The release follows 2022’s Smiling Like an Idiot and comes with the quietly anthemic single “Illinois Again,” a bittersweet son
When Sorcha Richardson puts out a new song, it doesn’t rush to be louder. It settles in—like a thought that won’t leave. Today. the Dublin-born singer-songwriter announced her next album. Draw the Outline. and released “Illinois Again. ” a quietly anthemic track that arrives with a self-directed video.
Draw the Outline is the follow-up to 2022’s Smiling Like an Idiot, and it will land on September 11 via Faction Records. For Richardson, the new single is a close-up of a contradiction: wanting closeness while feeling the gap underneath.
“‘Illinois Again’ is a bittersweet song about connection and loneliness,” she explained in a statement. “It’s doing the thing you’ve always dreamed of doing, surrounded by friends, and yet still feeling an undercurrent of isolation and not fully understanding why.”
She said the track started as an attempt to hold onto the dreamy momentum of a headline tour across North America. Writing about the euphoria kept pulling the focus back to something quieter—disconnection. “It began as an attempt to capture the dreamy vignette of a headline tour across North America. ” Richardson continued. “but in writing about that euphoria I kept finding a quiet sense of disconnection.”.
The song became, in her words, an effort to stay with two feelings at once: joy and loneliness. “It’s wanting to share a moment but feeling like you’ll never be able to explain it to someone else. or even hold on to it properly for yourself. This song is an attempt to hold those feelings side by side; the joy and loneliness.”.
That shift—toward inner narration rather than outside observation—runs through her account of the album. Richardson described earlier work as rooted in watching other people’s conversations, or listening in on her own. “A lot of my previous stuff is me observing other people’s conversations. or me observing my conversations with other people. ” she said. “A lot of this album is me observing my conversations within my own head.”.
She paints the record as dream-like and restless, moving between the present moment and the mind’s rapid-fire scenes. “There’s a surreal, dream-like quality to it,” she added. “It moves between me here in the room with you now and then. all of the things that my brain is throwing up to me; fears. memories. imagined outcomes.”.
The “Illinois Again” video, which Richardson directed herself, pairs the track’s tonal tension with an even more intimate sense of authorship—an artist choosing how the song looks as well as what it says.
Draw the Outline includes the following tracks: 1. Sea Pink Moon 2. Grenadine 3. Fake Venice 4. Illinois Again 5. Ellen Forever 6. Dog’s Best Man 7. Adam (Pacing in the Park) 8. The Orchard 9. Sunshine Season 10. The Video.
For listeners coming off Smiling Like an Idiot, this album promises a familiar gift—sharp emotional recognition—delivered with a new emphasis on the private dialogue that plays underneath everyday moments.
Sorcha Richardson Draw the Outline Illinois Again Faction Records Smiling Like an Idiot album announcement self-directed video
September 11… coincidentally sad title vibes. Is this about Illinois or like the whole state? I’m confused.
So it’s “quietly anthemic” which means it’s actually loud at the hook right? Anyway Faction Records never pops up on my feeds.
Wait I read “When Sorcha Richardson puts out a new song” and thought it was talking about like being on tour with someone named Illinois? lol. But okay, “Illinois Again” sounds like she misses a guy not a state.
I don’t get the whole “joy and loneliness side by side” thing, like wouldn’t that cancel out? Also the article says it’s an album follow-up but then just keeps talking about the single… I guess the rest comes later. September 11, cool, can’t believe that’s the release date though.