ifitbeyourwill Podcast

Julia Holter has never been content to leave a song alone. Across a career spent blurring the boundaries between experimental composition and pop, she has built elaborate musical worlds, then found ways to unsettle them. On Materia, that impulse turns inward: old ideas are revisited, familiar structures loosen, and music becomes something fluid, open to revision.
On this episode of If It Be Your Will, Holter traces the path from her early experiments and studies in composition to the increasingly expansive, emotionally intricate records that followed. We talk about orchestration as a way of thinking, the strange relationship between control and intuition, and what changes when you stop treating a composition as a finished thing.
A companion to Something in the Room She Moves, Materia finds Holter continuing to question how music takes shape — and what might emerge when you return to it with fresh ears. Our conversation moves through creative uncertainty, the long life of an idea, and the possibilities that appear when you let a piece become something you didn't originally imagine.
Sometimes the most revealing way forward is to take things apart.
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show
linktr.ee/colleyc

What if the things that scare you are also the things you need to move through?

On this episode of If It Be Your Will, SHEAL — the musical project of Toronto-based songwriter Sheilagh McNab — talks about stage anxiety, trusting her instincts, and learning to make room for both solitude and connection. We trace the path from Courage Again to golden hours and the new home-going chapter, exploring how motherhood, memory, and the quieter moments of everyday life find their way into her songs. It’s a conversation about letting go of old expectations, finding your footing, and figuring out what it means to feel at home in your own life.
https://www.instagram.com/sheal.music
BMWjt9T0R8sHB1ai8IHK
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show
linktr.ee/colleyc

On Prettiest Flower, Emily Nyhuus spent nearly eight years figuring out what Reveal Party was trying to say. The result is a record about becoming yourself, but also about the strange detours that get you there: an imaginary character who gradually turns out to be you, songs rewritten until they finally feel true, and a musical world that refuses to stay in one genre. We talk about Midwest emo, Neutral Milk Hotel, crushes, songwriting, burnout, perfectionism, and why some records need years before they're ready to leave your hands.
https://revealpartyonline.bandcamp.com/album/prettiest-flower
Reveal Party's sophomore album, “Prettiest Flower,” blends her Midwest emo and lo-fi pop influences with elements of stadium rock and eclectic instrumental folk, creating a cohesive, self-referential, and wistfully nostalgic tour de force.

The record tells a coming-of-age story rooted in the trans experience, presenting a raw yet tender autobiography where truths are revealed between the lines and space is given to unspoken feelings. It explores the ache of transformation, the dreams simmering beneath the surface of a chrysalis, and the anxiety of being both larva and butterfly, marking an ambitious and emotionally resonant new chapter for this self-described professional yearner.

- Livia Wendland
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show
linktr.ee/colleyc

London singer-songwriter Natalie Shay joins If It Be Your Will for a chat about guitars, Taylor Swift, stage fright, songwriting, and figuring out how to become comfortable taking up space. From picking up her first acoustic guitar to playing for thousands of people, Natalie’s story is full of unexpected turns, big pop instincts, and a very human dose of nerves. We talk about finding confidence, learning to talk between songs, writing from instinct, and why sometimes the best way through your fears is simply to throw yourself into the deep end. A fun, honest conversation with plenty of music, laughs, and North London energy.
https://natalieshay.co.uk/
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show
linktr.ee/colleyc

THAO returns with Show Me, her first album in six years, and it’s a record about what happens when you stop trying to keep parts of yourself at a safe distance. We talk about divorce, desire, queer identity, family, Vietnam, community, and the uncomfortable work of changing how you move through the world. We also get into collaboration, the many forms her storytelling has taken, and the difference between telling your story and actually letting someone see you. This is a thoughtful, funny, deeply human conversation with an artist still willing to question herself.
https://thaothaothao.com
Send us Fan Mail
Support the show
linktr.ee/colleyc