LA Singer-Songwriter Emma Ayzenberg to Release Debut LP 'Child of Saturn'
The folk-influenced record draws comparisons to Weyes Blood and Hand Habits.
Los Angeles singer-songwriter Emma Ayzenberg is to release her debut full-length album, CHILD OF SATURN, marking her first LP following earlier work that has drawn comparisons to artists such as Weyes Blood and Hand Habits.
Photo by H West
The album is out September 18, 2026.
'The sultry new cut pairs the warm sounds of a LAUREL CANYON string section with tense vocal and guitar parts that feel a bit like being trapped in a hot car on a long drive—which, as the track's music video suggests—very much seems to be the intention' — FLOOD Magazine
Based in Los Angeles, Ayzenberg makes music laden with intimate vocals, patient melodies, and richly-textured cinematic arrangements underpinned by poetic lyricism. The indie folk artist's emotionally-charged, genre-blurring discography—spanning two critically acclaimed EPs (Animus, 2022; Iron Mountain, 2024)—has earned praise from Under the Radar, FLOOD, Brooklyn Vegan, Bandcamp, PASTE, and Atwood, with comparisons to artists like The Weather Station, Hand Habits, and Flock of Dimes, and Weyes Blood. Just this year, Emma has opened for Colin Miller, Shannon Lay, Brown Horse, Frail Talk, Emily Yacina, and just finished up a tour opening for h. pruz on the west coast.
Ayzenberg's forthcoming debut LP, Child of Saturn, produced by Carly Bond (Meernaa) and Robert Shelton (Luke Temple, Lucius, Shannon Lay), marks a bold evolution in her sound and songwriting. Written during Emma's Saturn return and recorded in tandem with its unfolding, the album wrestles with love, identity, and grief, charting the ache of becoming with unflinching honesty. Today, Emma releases the single 'I Will Pretend' along with a video. Emma explains:
This was one of the first songs we recorded for Child of Saturn, but it's quite different than the rest of the record. 'I Will Pretend' is very upbeat, the lyrics are really literal, plus Carly (Meernaa) went absolutely WILD on the guitar part. The video is one of two we shot on a very hot day up at Switzer Falls with Alex LaLiberte/Otium (Widowspeak, Hand Habits), who is truly a jack of all trades. He shot, directed, edited, and colored the whole thing himself. Neither Alex nor I had ever made a video (or a song!) this literal before, so we just leaned into it. We ended up acting out the exact situation the song came from: I was about to have a really intense conversation with a friend, and the tire quite literally blew out. That unexpected pause led me to reflect on the psychic cost of losing yourself in someone else, and I think the campiness and emotionality of the video really captures that spiral. Alex's little crew and I had so much fun that day.
Child of Saturn is a gripping sentiment, operating within climactic lyrical flows, licked wounds and stunning atmospheric lure, all the while masterful in its ability to be present. Staying attuned to its nature, these songs were recorded over four different week-long sessions in 2024-2025 shortly after they were written. This looseness exhilarated the ebb and flow, of rapport and endurance that was missing in her process previously. 'This time around, for better or for worse, I was less precious and rushed with the process,' she says. 'I collaborated with a ton of people, took my time, started songs over a few times. It was more challenging to me this way, but the result ended up being a more raw, vulnerable expression of me, the music and my process.' Emma's co-producers became an integral part of Child of Saturn and the way that Ayzenberg let these songs find their place. Each offering their own insight, pushing Ayzenberg to more deeply explore her lyricism and instrumental dynamics, Child of Saturn offered more than just the creation of these songs, but a reevaluation of how to approach art in a more sincere progression.
Although these songs feel assured upon initial introduction, what Ayzenberg creates is a place to lean into this undeniable familiarity with both validity and inquiry; a piece of work that is just as much about discovery as it is about understanding why these feelings are here in the first place. Songs like 'Baby Bonsai' grapple with nurturing as Ayzenberg accidently kills a plant gifted by a loved one. The book ends 'From Your Eyes' and 'Delicate' explore what falling in love means, exploring the intensity that arises from all of its different interpretations. 'The Math of Vengeance' confronts inherited generational trauma and the violence it leaves behind across time. The idea of bookmarking our anticipated 'ever changing' is never a straight line, but building the counterweighting of both internal and external dialogues. With it comes depth amongst the many voicings that Ayzenberg explores, never threatening to strain each choice, but becoming ever more fulfilled by their purpose.
Child of Saturn is a collection that moves at its own pace, and to its credit, the album's greatest strengths come from those little individual blossoms of patient voicings and unconventional instrumentals that make this record feel so deeply human. Child of Saturn features musicianship from Greg Uhlmann (Perfume Genius, SML), Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes), Emily Elhaj (Angel Olsen), Patrick Kelly (Perfume Genius, Hand Habits), and Sam Kauffman-Skloff (Angel Olsen, Miya Folick), among others.
Photo Credit: H West
