When hardship arrived for Gilly Bird, it was isolating, unrelenting, and far from something she ever sought. A stroke at the age of 30 left her in a haze that she describes as “a snowstorm in my brain—chaotic, cold, and full of birds crying out, asking to be heard.” But within that stillness, she began to listen to parts of herself she had never heard before.
Gilly Bird—formerly known in the music world as Emily Raquel—did not chase her return to music. “I let it come forward,” she says, brewing jasmine tea she grew herself in the window-lit calm of her vintage apartment. Her new EP, STROKE, set to release on August 25, isn’t a reinvention so much as a quiet unfolding. It’s a collection shaped by years of living, waiting, and noticing—a project that takes flight from deeply personal ground.
Under her former name, Emily Raquel’s songs were warm, grounded, and familiar. As Gilly Bird, her sound has shifted—more intimate, less certain, yet more open. “I didn’t change my name to escape,” she explains. “I changed it to reflect where I’ve landed. I’m loud and love Liza and Barbra! I was a raver at 14, and now in my 30s, I can recall all of that again with pleasure.”
Listening to the new tracks feels less like witnessing survival and more like stepping into a space where music is allowed to breathe. The production, handled with understated brilliance by Toronto artist Shelby Mackay, gives each song room to rise slowly, free from overproduction or pressure to impress.
Gilly’s voice carries the texture of experience—sometimes cracking, sometimes roaring, always real. “I used to sing because I had to,” she says. “Now I sing because I feel it—in that itch of my brain. No covers, just me.” In the two demos she shared ahead of the release, there’s a moment where her voice surges into a raw, unpolished roar. She refused to edit it out. “That felt honest.”
STROKE isn’t about reclaiming something lost—it’s about honoring something long present but newly understood. In Gilly Bird’s songs, there is no rush, no force—only a steady, patient letting-go. And in that patience, a new kind of freedom takes flight.
Follow Gilly Bird: [Instagram.com/gillybirdmusic)
Listen to Shelby Mackay: [Spotify Link](https://open.spotify.com/artist/5p71wpajbzO90AEiPBej94?si=TWrrs1iMQdaIs1bfX6Tcsw)
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