IAN SWEET

IAN SWEET is the chosen shape Jilian Medford often steps into — and sometimes dissolves inside of. What began 10 years ago as a solo project that launched her to indie-critical-darling status, over time has evolved into something more atmospheric and less containable: a porous altar, a mirror, a weather system. There are stretches when the line between Jilian and “IAN SWEET” disappears entirely — this time around a very real life trifecta of battling industry pressures, the ending of a 3-year relationship, and a return to living in her native city of Los Angeles. These serve as the backdrop under which Shiverstruck, her fifth album as IAN SWEET, has found its way into the world.

Shiverstruck arrives from a place of deliberate separation. Where earlier works collapsed the distance between Jilian and IAN SWEET, this record gently reestablishes it. The writing process became an act of surrender and an intentional relinquishing of control. “I was thinking about how easy it is to mistake survival for connection,” Medford explains about Shiverstruck album opener “987.” “Music has pushed me to be more empathetic, to pay attention to emot ions and experiences that aren’t always comfortable, and channel that into something that feels authentic.” Rather than meticulously sculpting every emotion, she allowed the songs to assume their own architecture. In doing so, she discovered a new softness — a compassion for herself that doesn’t require total collapse to feel human.