Liverpool alternative-pop artist Natalie McCool has dropped her new album Good For The Soul, marking a bold new chapter for an artist increasingly willing to push beyond the boundaries of conventional alternative pop. The new record arrives following a run of singles including Coming Of Age, We’re The Ones, So Lonely, Lonely and I Fantasise, each offering a glimpse into an album that refuses to settle into a single sound or mood.
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At its heart, Good For The Soul remains unmistakably McCool, but the album embraces a much broader sonic palette than her previous work. Across its 12 tracks, playful alt-pop gives way to darker, more experimental passages, with electronic textures, dramatic strings, industrial influences and atmospheric production creating a record that feels deliberately unpredictable.
McCool describes the album as an exploration of the complicated experience of growing into adulthood, embracing both its exhilaration and its difficulties. “The album is called Good For The Soul because it explores the hope, joy and exhilaration of adulthood, and the way every experience makes you who you are – even the bad ones,” she explains. “There’s something for everyone on this album. It really is good for the soul!”
That sense of openness extends to the way McCool approaches songwriting and production. Rather than attempting to remain within a defined artistic box, she has embraced experimentation and collaboration, ultimately producing and mixing the majority of the album herself for the first time. “I used to think you had to fit into a particular box as an artist,” she says. “And in a lot of ways you do. But one of the joys of it is breaking the cage and doing something a bit different.”
One of the clearest examples of that philosophy is the album’s focus track, Sleeping Beauty, which arrives as one of the record’s most intriguing and disorientating moments. Featuring vocals from Louisa Roach of She Drew The Gun, the track pulls McCool’s alternative-pop sensibilities into a more shadowy world of trip-hop, industrial textures and haunting atmospherics. Its unusual musical construction deliberately keeps the listener off balance, with McCool using melody, strings and fractured rhythmic breaks to create an addictive sense of instability.
“Sleeping Beauty is an absolute wonky gem of a track and I love it so much,” McCool says. “The melodies, the strings, the breaks, everything. The key is not what you think it is. It’s actually in E major but sounds like it’s in a completely different key. Musically, it trips you up. It’s disorientating in a very addictive way.”
The collaboration with Roach also has roots in McCool’s Liverpool musical history. The pair have known each other for years through the city’s music scene, making Roach a natural choice when McCool began considering who could contribute to the song. “I knew from the moment we’d written the track that it had to feature She Drew The Gun,” McCool reveals. “Me and Louisa go way back in the Liverpool scene and I think her songwriting and the way she delivers a vocal is glorious. The part she wrote, recorded and sent over just floored us.”
Sleeping Beauty is just one part of an album that continually changes direction without losing its sense of identity. Nobody Knows introduces insistent rhythmic strings, while Stuck On Repeat (Everytime) gradually expands from an intimate opening into something much larger and more euphoric. The title track itself combines oversized beats with off-kilter synths, transforming its experimental edges into an exuberant celebration of optimism.
Elsewhere, Suffering takes the record into more intense territory, featuring ilā, who also appears on Coming Of Age as part of Trans Voices. The album ultimately finds its emotional resolution with Into A Diamond, a redemptive closing track featuring Ukrainian electronica duo KRAPKA;Koma.
Collaboration has become central to McCool’s creative process during the making of Good For The Soul, with the album’s expansive approach partly inspired by a special show she co-curated and performed as part of Liverpool’s Eurovision Cultural Festival during the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. That event saw McCool work alongside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, who subsequently feature on several tracks on the new album. The experience helped open up a new creative direction, with the record’s numerous guest contributions growing naturally from the collaborative environment surrounding the Eurovision performance.
For McCool, the result is an album that balances musical experimentation with an underlying sense of empathy. While its sound can shift dramatically from one track to the next, Good For The Soul remains united by its exploration of identity, experience and the process of becoming comfortable with who you are. Listen to the new LP HERE.
McCool will celebrate the release with an intimate record store tour beginning in Manchester on Friday, before continuing through Liverpool, Newcastle and Glasgow. Album launch shows will follow in Liverpool and London in October, while November brings a further special afternoon performance at Manchester’s Monastery.
With Good For The Soul, Natalie McCool embraces the freedom to experiment without abandoning the distinctive alternative-pop identity that has defined her work. It is an album that moves between light and darkness, intimacy and scale, electronic experimentation and orchestral richness – ultimately finding its strength in refusing to stay in one place.
Upcoming UK Live Dates:
SEPTEMBER – Record Store Tour
11th – Manchester, Vinyl Resting Place, 2pm
12th – Liverpool, Rough Trade, 12 noon
26th – Newcastle, Beyond Vinyl, 2pm
27th – Glasgow, Strip Joint Records, 4pm
OCTOBER – Album Launch Shows
9th – Liverpool, Kazimier Stockroom
10th – London, Sebright Arms
NOVEMBER
15th – Manchester, The Monastery
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