LISTEN: Park Hills Circle Shares ‘Unspoke’

Debut LP, All of a Sudden, out July 10

May 13, 2026May 13, 2026 Ron Hart 0 Comments All of a Sudden, Bryce O’Tierney, Maeve and Quinn, Maria Somerville, Maris O’Tierney, Park Hills Circle, Pravda Records, Sinead O'Connor

Park Hills Circle. (Image: Maren Celest)

Our friends at Pravda Records continue to surprise us with the signing and upcoming debut of Park Hills Circle.

The solo project of Chicago multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Maris O’Tierney, known for her work with twin sister — violinist and poet Bryce — as the duo Maeve & Quinn, Park Hills Circle is a genre-expansive shift away from the music she was creating with her sister in favor of a sound closer to the ethereal nature of fellow Irish song explorers as Sinead O’Connor and Maria Somerville.

Maris recorded her upcoming album, All of a Sudden, at Chicago’s Bim Bom Studios with engineer Michael MacDonald. Her collaborations with Aaron Otheim (synths/piano) and Dustin Laurenzi (saxophone) are integral to the album’s multidimensional sound. Aaron’s shared musical sensibility and grounding in nature (his Pacific Northwest to Maris’ Alaska and Ireland) lends itself to a rich synth landscape, from dark oceanic depths to shimmering aurora heights. Dustin brings his improvisational ethos to lyrical extensions of Maris’ vocal lines, as well as textured chordal work that enhances the rhythm section of fellow jazz musicians Quin Kirchner (percussion) and Matt Ulery (bass).

Park Hills Circle *All of a Sudden*, Pravda Records 2026

And while All of a Sudden does not come out until July 10, Rock & Roll Globe is honored to premiere the album’s synth-washed new single, “Unspoke,” today on the site.

“‘Unspoke’ emerged on a sleepless night in the wake of a heavy Chicago thunderstorm,” she explains of the song. “While I was finding the daily rhythms of making my own home, after a period of living with my twin sister, I also found myself disoriented by dark depression. Looking for comfort, I took out my classical guitar, and the warm tone of the nylon strings shifted something. Words came to me after days of inner silence, and I experienced my surroundings in a surreal way: ‘…heat wave / we watch until the self fades / I took all the hands off the kitchen clock; / could we learn to tell time with our memory?…’

“When I finally fell asleep, I dreamt of my first home, the coastline of Alaska. I was a whale, swimming upward from cold ocean depths to shimmering warm sunlight above, surfacing for air: ‘… I can’t tell you why / I feel more alive these days / after a certain number of miles, your breath catches up to you…’ Writing the rest of the song guided me through the following days, helping me believe that the sadness might lift from my spirit. In arranging the vocal harmonies that fill out the chorus I found a gentle cushion that I hoped a future listener might also feel.

“The lyrics helped remind me of who I am: reflecting on the fearlessness and wonder of my childhood self; the compassion of friends who loved me even at my (and often their) lowest point; and the strength of my Irish ancestors who sang as a ritual to heal. My original guitar part informed the full arrangement of ‘Unspoke,’ though it’s not present on the final recorded version; I intentionally peeled back that element to reveal the spectrum of light in my collaborator Aaron Otheim’s synths and piano.”

To preorder All of a Sudden, visit here.