After a string of critically praised EPs and several years quietly building a devoted following, Rachel Bobbitt is set to release her debut full-length album, Swimming Towards the Sand, on October 17 via Fantasy Records.
Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Chris Coady—best known for his work with Beach House and DIIV—the album traces a line back to Bobbitt’s childhood in Nova Scotia, even as it expands her sound with a fuller, more immersive sonic palette. The 12-track record, shaped by themes of memory, loss, and longing, is described by Bobbitt as “equal parts dream and experience.”
Lead single “Hands Hands Hands” arrives today alongside the announcement. Written following the death of a loved one, the track layers mournful guitar and swirling synths with a percussive backbone, while Bobbitt’s voice carries both sorrow and urgency. “The chorus is borrowed from a children’s song from the 1870s—a song my grandfather used to sing constantly, called ‘Reuben and Rachel,’” she explains. The accompanying video, directed by Jeff Miller, was shot at sunset in Baxter’s Harbour, Nova Scotia.
Bobbitt, who first gained attention on Vine as a teenager before pulling back from the spotlight, studied jazz and vocal pedagogy at Humber College in Toronto. Over the past few years, she’s opened for acts like Men I Trust and Blonde Redhead and released a pair of EPs that hinted at her range and lyrical depth.
With Swimming Towards the Sand, Bobbitt appears to be making good on that early promise. “Having the water be so consistent and impartial to you, and terrifying and beautiful—it is such a strong presence for me,” she said in a statement. The ocean, for Bobbitt, is not just metaphor but memory—an anchoring force in an album that’s ultimately about reckoning with where you’ve been, and what you’ve had to leave behind.
Bobbitt will support the record with a North American tour this fall, including a pair of Montreal dates—September 14 at Bar Le Ritz and a POP Montreal appearance on September 25.
Swimming Towards the Sand is available for pre-order now.
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Photo – Ebru Yildiz
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