Indie rock band (and Atwood Artist to Watch) Witch Post summon something unsettling and magnetic with “Changeling,” a feverish spell of a song that finds power not in clarity or closure, but in surrendering to transformation and the strange places it leads – a thrilling signal of what’s already taking shape for Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser’s new project.er

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Stream: “Changeling” – Witch Post

People and their emotions are as limitless, as imaginative as actual magic. I find this both fascinating and terrifying.

– Alaska Reid

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There’s something instantly unsettling – and equally alluring – about “Changeling.”

It doesn’t just arrive; it emerges, charged and churning like a fever dream you’re not sure you want to wake up from. As one of the latest offerings from nascent indie rock band Witch Post, the track works on two levels at once: As a thrilling introduction to Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser’s new project, and a statement of intent that suggests something far bigger is already taking shape. If this is the kind of spell they’re casting now, the next record can’t come soon enough.

Once knew a changeling
Julie was her name
Foxglove and roses
Painted tears on her face
I knew she was restless
I knew she was strange
Then she tried to consume me
And we were never the same

We here at Atwood Magazine have been longtime fans of Alaska Reid’s work – from her mid-2010s indie rock band Alyeska to her later solo material – and Witch Post feels like a genuinely electrifying new chapter in her artistic story. Already a two-time Atwood Editor’s Pick, the band doesn’t dilute what made those other projects compelling; rather, it sharpens it. The band’s sound is widescreen and volatile, all grinding guitars and emotional gravity, but there’s a strange elegance beneath the noise – a sense of folklore bleeding into modern life, of something ancient brushing up against the present.

Dylan Fraser brings a complementary gravity to Witch Post – one shaped by years of songwriting, touring, and emotional excavation within the UK indie rock world. A Scottish musician and longtime creative force in his own right, Fraser’s work has consistently leaned toward tension, texture, and restraint, favoring atmosphere over excess and feeling over flourish. In Witch Post, that instinct is put to use: His grounding presence, melodic intuition, and sensitivity to space give the band its taut edge, balancing Alaska Reid’s mythic storytelling with something raw and rugged. The result is a partnership defined not by dominance, but by friction — a push and pull that makes Witch Post feel intentional, volatile, and deeply alive.

Since introducing themselves earlier this year (their debut EP Beast released in mid-August), Witch Post have arrived with grit and vulnerability, friction and fire.

“We’re trying to do something different from our solo projects with Witch Post,” Reid tells Atwood Magazine. “We’re chasing the otherworldly and slightly fantastical.” That pursuit is audible in every corner of “Changeling,” from its chant-like unison vocals to its uneasy tension – a quality Fraser sees as the band’s defining strength. “Solo stuff is fun and limitless, but it’s a different type of refinement being in a band,” he explains. “You take each other’s ideas and refine them to something that fits both of us… I think the best work can come from that kind of collaboration.”

Once knew a changeling
But she never cared
When dogs would bite her
She’s combing her hair
I knew she was restless
I knew she was strange
Then she tried to consume me
We were never the same

The band’s name itself carries the weight of history and myth. Drawn from 17^th-century English carvings meant to ward off witches, Witch Post embraces the symbolism rather than resisting it. “Witches are interesting as they are time travelers,” Reid says. “I think being a songwriter and musician has that same binary of being ancient and modern… We like to borrow from all different time periods and find the magic in connecting up all these things.” This sense of temporal blur – of pubs, folklore, buses, foxglove, and roses all existing on the same plane – is central to “Changeling.”

The song was sparked by literature as much as lived experience. Reid traces its origin to Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, and the idea of a veil between worlds. “Dylan and I wanted to sing in unison almost like a chant,” she says. “I think it adds to the strangeness of the song because people don’t really do that without at least a harmony.” That strangeness is the point. As charged and churning as it is softly stirring, the track feels possessed by contrast – modern and timeless, intimate and mythic. This comes even further into view in lines like “Foxglove and roses painted tears on her face” set against “She gets on the bus I take every day.”

Lyrically, “Changeling” resists easy answers. “I knew she was restless, I knew she was strange. Then she tried to consume me, and we were never the same.” For Reid, the song is part-exorcism, part-document. “We’ve been using the band to explore other topics, characters and stories… That’s when we write some really cool things and bring in the fantasy elements.” It’s less diary, more spellwork – a way of understanding something by mythologizing it.

We were never the same
Two dreamers…
We were never the same
Two dreamers…

I’ve buried the hatchet
Can now hear her name
She gets on the bus I take everyday
I study her hair and her face on the pane
And all I can think is we were never the same

As the first glimpse of Witch Post’s follow-up to Beast, “Changeling” doesn’t so much expand that world as refract it. “They’re two sides of the same coin,” Fraser says simply. And yet this side feels sharper, stranger, more confident in its darkness – a grunge-flecked anthem touched by something spectral.

“Changeling” is thrilling because it trusts its unease. It doesn’t resolve the tension it creates; it invites you to live inside it.

To bask in the fervor. To sing along to the unsettling. Witch Post are clearly less interested in explaining the magic than in letting it work – and as far as introductions go, this one feels unforgettable.

Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser recently sat down with Atwood Magazine to talk about the mythology, collaboration, and emotional tension shaping “Changeling” — and how leaning into unease has become the foundation of their new creative world. Read our interview with Witch Post below, and step deeper into the spell of this undeniable band to watch.

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:: stream/purchase Changeling here ::

:: connect with Witch Post here ::

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Stream: “Changeling” – Witch Post

A CONVERSATION WITH WITCH POST

Alaska Reid: That we’re trying to do something different from our solo projects with Witch Post. We’re chasing the otherworldly and slightly fantastical.

Dylan Fraser: I think the tension between us and I mean tension in a good way. Solo stuff is fun and limitless but it’s a different type of refinement being in a band. You take each others ideas and refine them to something that fits both of us. It’s like having someone proof read your work to shake out any of the unsure bits. We both do that for one another. I think the best work can come from that kind of collaboration.

Alaska: To put it plainly, as many have discussed before; “witches” and “witchcraft” are things that have been historically misunderstood. Witches are interesting as they are time travelers. The history of witch hunts especially in America was barbaric and medieval (not in a positive way), but the women that were accused didn’t conform to society in ways that were often modern. I think being a songwriter and musician has that same binary of being ancient and modern, being a time traveler. We like to borrow from all different time periods and find the magic in connecting up all these things. We’re literally still playing in pubs, even some that have been around for ages. In terms of geography and Dylan and I specifically; we’re from two different countries, Scotland and America. Even us finding each other and being able to write these emotional songs feels like magic or witchcraft.

Alaska: I was reading “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti and it clicked with something that was happening in my personal life. “Goblin Market” isn’t about a changeling per se, but it’s about the veil between two worlds, one fantastical, one human and how the characters are affected by the overlap. Dylan and I wanted to sing in unison almost like a chant. I think it adds to the strangeness of the song because people don’t really do that without at least a harmony.

Dylan: It’s a constant progression. We kind of wrote it at the same time as Beast so they have a duality in ways. They’re two sides of the same coin.

Alaska: It’s about someone we know and reflecting on the way in which we became entangled. Not unlike stumbling into a goblin night market, sometimes you just get involved with someone or something that is deceptive and complicated. People and their emotions are as limitless, as imaginative as actual magic. I find this both fascinating and terrifying. I remember Dylan and I workshopping the lyrics and really enjoying the contrast between lines like “Foxglove and roses painted tears on her face” versus “She gets on the bus / I take every day,” We wanted to mix what’s modern and practical with something more timeless and poetic.

Alaska: A bit of both I guess? I’m in this chapter of my life with Witch Post where I’m less interested in my lyrics being a diary. We’ve been using the band to explore other topics, characters and stories. We write about things that happen in our lives but we try to add other stuff in, so I think it that way we approach songs more from a “this was interesting, I’d like to understand it more removed from myself.” That’s when we write some really cool things and bring in the fantasy elements.

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:: stream/purchase Changeling here ::

:: connect with Witch Post here ::

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Stream: “Changeling” – Witch Post

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