saoirse dream - saoirse dream (2025) Hi-Res

From transition to recognition, Portland-based artist Catherine Egbert has always been questing after one thing or another. Ambition, like a shimmering illusion in a crystal ball, has constantly ruled over her life, shaped her career, and warped her sense of self beyond recognition. After the success of her second album, star★☆ (2022), she found herself disoriented. Suddenly, the quest was over, and Egbert was faced with a question she had never thought to consider — what becomes of the wizard once her campaign is complete?

Alchemizing the alt-rock of her roots with the bitcrushed digitalisms of her contemporaries, “saoirse dream” conjures a spellbinding sonic aesthetic that can only be described as “Wizard Sleaze.” Chiptune synths dance like faeries across an obsidian pool of distortion. As if they were components to some powerful spell, each note is arranged with ritualistic intent, the end-result more devastating than any common curse. With the cutting honesty of Lindsey Jordan, the virtuosic production of underscores, and the pixelated aural world of Anamanaguchi, ’tis only a matter of time ‘fore the heroes of this realm fall victim to the thrall of saoirse dream.