An extended rumination on the impact of trauma, The Songbird Chokes is the latest release from Harry Nagle.

By Graeme Smith

A concept album, a narrative runs through the whole record, starting bright and optimistically with Dreaming and Awake. From there, Nagle takes us on a journey of an internal descent shaped by trauma, shame, and longing. We are hit with visceral imagery of fires, drowning and locked doors.

We see this darkness early on through The Smoke From The Trees. An image-rich highlight, it combines folk with rock and psychedelia, feeling Roger Waters-esque. Take It All Away takes things a bluesy, jazzy direction while staying classic rock.

There’s a touch of the timeless about each of Nagle’s compositions, mixing things up genre-wise while staying coherent through the album’s larger story.

Teach Me simmers with a mellow folksiness and reluctant hope. Love Me is a ballad led by emotional piano. You Had A Chance marks one of the album’s darkest moments and has a bold and experimental arrangement that hits hard. It pairs nicely with the bombastic and confessional Things I Think At Night.

The mood stays dark through the operatic You Make Me Hate That I Love then become softer but no less melancholic in Nothing. I Believed In Love wrestles between anger, violence and catharsis. The Dream closes things with a sense of weary survival.

A New York–based songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Nagle also leads the electro-rock band Monday Favors and was previously in Itchy Trigger Finger. The latter toured with Lollapalooza and opened for Ben Folds Five. He’s been releasing solo music since 1997.

The Songbird Chokes is set for release 22 August 2025.