Italian singer-songwriter Marta Del Grandi releases her new album ‘Dream Life’ on 30th January 2026 via Fire Records, her first new music since the effortlessly refined devotional pop of her ‘Selva‘ album in 2023.
Drawing on the free-range spirit of Joni Mitchell, noir-flecked echoes of Nina Nastasia, the pop clarity of Carole King, and the hushed minimalism of Agnes Obel, Marta Del Grandi is a compelling musical presence commanding attention.
“While Selva had a poetic and bucolic nature – in my head I can picture each song as an oil painting – Dream Life has a more contemporary approach, with lyrics touching political and social issues, a more explicit personal storytelling and a more defined pop sound. It’s more like a photobook, more defined and detailed”. – Marta Del Grandi
Today she shares the final pre-release music from the album, the title track which examines the quantum leap between reality and our dreams and ambitions, and “Shoe Shaped Cloud,” a brooding study of a relationship gone awry that’s propelled by an aching vocal which recalls Radiohead at their most brittle.
Marta comments, “The title track, was the last song I wrote for the album, just a few weeks before getting in the studio. It’s funny how sometimes I can have a song stuck in my head for months but somehow keep fighting with the idea of sitting down and writing it – then one day I hear a very clear voice in my head saying: “It’s time”.
She continues, “Shoe Shaped Cloud was written in Sicily in winter, when at sunset I saw a pink shoe-shaped cloud above my apartment, really powerful! That sight helped me process some feelings and thoughts connected to my personal life.”
The surreal and somnambulant ten-track album ‘Dream Life‘ is a multi-dimensional panoramic snapshot punctuated with serene disillusionment, that transcends musical boundaries as personal hopes and aspirations are cast against the vastness of the stars and beyond.
“Coincidences and encounters kept taking me back to the theme of dream, memories and reminiscences, a dimension where the perception of real and unreal is faded and often undistinguishable. The songs reflect this atmosphere and articulate it in different directions, with more introspective moments and more surreal and extravagant parts. All the tracks have a connection with the theme, with a broad interpretation.” – Marta Del Grandi
The album reflects a growing awareness that we cannot fully control the future or the outcome of our plans. This thread weaves throughout the record, a journey that is poetic, ironic, and deeply grounded in the present.
“Emotionally complex, her songwriting seems to tap into areas beyond words.” Clash
“A singer-songwriter who seems to come from an imaginary land.” Rolling Stone
‘Dream Life’ is released on January 30, 2026.
