Running into someone can require more rehearsal than a gig. Helena Deland describes “Tip of My Tongue” through a meeting long anticipated and privately prepared for: how much you know about the other person, how little of that knowledge you intend to admit. By the time the encounter happens, there is an entire conversation waiting behind the polite one.
The song is one of two previews available from Eternity Shrugs, due January 22, 2027 through Chivi Chivi. Deland produced the album with longtime bandmates Francis Ledoux and Alexandre Larin. The sessions took place in rural Quebec over four seasons. The eleven-song tracklist follows Someone New, released in 2020, and Goodnight Summerland from 2023.
The other preview, September’s “How Do You Like Me Now,” has its own problem with discretion. In the artist’s release account, someone at a party considers reading the host’s notebook, then imagines that being discovered might be welcome. Keeping a diary is private until it becomes a fantasy about the person who might eventually read it. An excellent way to make an already awkward party worse.
The two songs approach privacy from opposite directions. In Tip of My Tongue, somebody has rehearsed what they intend to reveal; in How Do You Like Me Now, a private notebook becomes a possible means of being discovered. Deland’s descriptions are specific enough to make both situations uncomfortable without requiring a dramatic confrontation.
Her work with Ouri as Hildegard continues alongside the solo records: their debut appeared in 2021, followed by Jour 1596 in 2024. Eternity Shrugs arrives on January 22. Its two previews already share a good subject: wanting another person to understand you, while trying to control exactly what they find out. Those are difficult instructions to give anybody at a party.