A slow, tender melting of isolation into intimacy, St. Catherine’s Child’s “Negative Space” captures the quiet ache of being all alone in a crowded room – and the fragile, radiant beauty of connection and love breaking through.
“Negative Space” – St. Catherine’s Child
The camera starts close – too close – on St. Catherine’s Child’s face. She’s singing straight to us, her expression heavy with something unspoken.
Slowly, the frame begins to pull back. A shiny, metallic green party hat is gently placed on her head. The edges of the room come into focus. We realize she’s not alone—she’s at a party; her party? She tosses off the hat in disgust.
But even as confetti floats through the air and friends fill the space around her, there’s a quiet ache just beneath the surface: The feeling of being all alone in a crowded room. What begins as isolation gradually shifts into something warmer, more communal. There’s no dramatic reveal, just a slow, tender melting – grief making space for celebration, loneliness giving way to love.
That emotional dissonance – between presence and detachment, between being held and still feeling hollow – sits at the core of “Negative Space.” A raw, radiant, slow-burning ballad wrapped in self-reflection, the lead single off St. Catherine’s Child’s upcoming debut album finds the transatlantic indie folk artist transforming grief into gold, aching passionately from the inside out as she captures the quiet unraveling that follows loss, and the long, uncertain road toward healing. It’s a portrait of depression rendered in tender detail, where even picking up your phone can feel insurmountable – and yet, connection still finds a way to break through.
I’m getting really hard to get ahold of
Got really into knitting for a while
My collarbone protruding from my shoulders
And I weep when I’m alone like I’m a child
All the boxes of his things still need unpacking
I haven’t had a meal in 5 straight days
And Dave has always been so understanding
But I know he hates to see me hurt this way
I know that I should probably
leave this house
The woman in the mirror
doesn’t look like me right now
I can see it plain across her face,
we’re wasting away
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Negative Space,” out March 28th via Shamus Records. Her first release of the year is a powerful one for St. Catherine’s Child’s Ilana Zsigmond, who poured thoughts, feelings, and words unspoken into a song that sends shivers down the spine, even as it sends our spirits soaring sky-high.
`I’m terrified that grief will make me boring
Cause no one really likes it when you cry
It happens much more often when I’m drinking
And wailing at the party kills the vibe
“‘Negative Space’ was written about the funny place in the grieving process where you can’t stand to be alone, the kind of manic edge that utter despair can take on when you’re doing everything in your power not to think about it,” Zsigmond tells Atwood Magazine.
“In the end, it came down to this idea that you’re there, but you’re the impression of yourself. I was the negative space where a woman would be. I wanted to write this song about this depression that felt as manic as I did.”
Directed by Izzy Rubin-Burnett, the “Negative Space” music video is as compelling as the song itself, isolating Zsigmond and shining a powerful spotlight on her humanity – and ultimately, her community.
“I wanted the video to feel the way every party and get-together felt in that time — I was in my own bubble, ruminating alone, while the beautiful friends and family around me did whatever they could to make it easier,” Zsigmond recalls. “We had this idea to represent that manic-depressive feeling with everyone having a party around me, and me just sort of isolated. The session band for the record is comprised of my incredibly dear friends. I wanted the whole album and all of its promotions to feel like a cross-section of my support network – the people who kept me alive, really. So I asked a lot of those people to come do the video.”
Gathering her most trusted friends and loved ones around her, Zsigmond allowed herself to fully surrender – to her music, and to herself.
“The people in this music video are some of the friends who got me through that time, patiently bringing me drinks and giving me hugs. And just like at the end of the video, in a dogpile on the couch, I am grateful for them and their love every single day. So it’s me, Toria, my partner, and three of our really close friends – one of whom, named Cal, wrote the last song on the record with me,” she explains. “He’s absolutely larger than life. He showed up and said, ‘I don’t know if this is any use to you, but I have three confetti cannons in the back of my car.’ If you asked me to pick the most Cal Williams sentence that exists in the world, that might be it. So we had three confetti cannons – two of them didn’t go off, and the one that went off was the one time everybody hit their marks perfectly. So in the video when the cannon went off, that was the only time it worked!”
I wonder if my father knew this feeling
When his mother died I never saw him cry
Did he lay awake and argue with the ceiling?
Did he look for her in every flickering light?
I know that I should probably leave this house
The woman in the mirror doesn’t look too good right now
I see her slip into negative space, we’re wasting away
Ultimately, “Negative Space” is a song of surrender – one that doesn’t pretend healing is linear, or even guaranteed, but dares to sit in the in-between with eyes wide open.
Through intimate lyrics and a striking visual narrative, St. Catherine’s Child gives voice to the moments we often hide: the days we disappear into ourselves, the nights we can’t pull it together, and the silent strength it takes just to stay. In embracing her own unraveling, Ilana Zsigmond creates a space where others might feel seen in theirs – and in doing so, she reminds us that even in our darkest hours, we are never truly alone.
Stream “Negative Space” exclusively on Atwood Magazine, and stay tuned for St. Catherine’s Child’s debut album This Might Affect You, set to release June 15, 2025!
I know that I should probably leave this house
The woman in the mirror
doesn’t have the strength right now
To brush her hair and teeth
and wash her face, we’re wasting away
One day the waves won’t
crash down without warning
The whiskey will get smoother over time
Maybe I’ll feel better in the morning
Maybe this will haunt me my whole life
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:: stream/purchase Negative Space here ::
:: connect with St. Catherine’s Child here ::
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“Negative Space” – St. Catherine’s Child
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