Wallgrin

Toronto, Canada

"Experimental Art-Pop"

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Imogen Heap, Aurora, Caroline Polachek, Weyes Blood, Eartheater, Kate Bush

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Independent (Bronze Age Feeling Records)

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NEW RELEASES

"Dovetail" - Single & Video

Release Date: July 31, 2026

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"I.D.K." - Single & Video

Release Date: August 28, 2026

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"Hound of Hades" - Single

Release Date: September 25, 2026

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Underworld Songbook - Album

Release Date: October 23, 2026

PREVIOUS RELEASES

Yet Again The Wheel Turns - Album

Release Date: October 14, 2022

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Bird/Alien - Album

Release Date: July 6, 2018

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Bio

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WALLGRIN is the experimental art-pop project of Toronto-based composer, vocalist and violinist Tegan Wahlgren. Drawing from a background in Celtic fiddle and choral singing, Wallgrin’s sound moves between lush string-based orchestration, beat-driven pop and ornate vocal arrangements. Their spirited and raw live performances have led them to perform at Iceland Airwaves, Pop Montréal, The Great Escape, and Tallinn Music Week.

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WALLGRIN is the experimental art-pop project of Toronto-based composer, vocalist and violinist Tegan Wahlgren. Drawing from a background in Celtic fiddle and choral singing, Wallgrin’s sound moves between lush string-based orchestration, beat-driven pop and ornate vocal arrangements After completing a degree in electroacoustic music composition, Wallgrin’s songwriting defined itself: pop-adjacent but deviant, never afraid to experiment.

From their 2018 debut Bird/Alien, to their most recent album Yet Again The Wheel Turns, Wallgrin’s world building has always revolved around fantastical and mythological imagery. Called “an innovative artist who is just starting to flex their myriad skills and talents” by CBC Music, and a songwriter who “measures up to standards set by art-pop visionaries like Björk and Kate Bush" (Northern Transmissions), their spirited and raw live performances have led them to perform at Iceland Airwaves, Pop Montréal, The Great Escape, and Tallinn Music Week.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Mackenzie Walker

Press Quotes

“[Yet Again The Wheel Turns] is an eclectic and exciting release blurring genres and influences, showcasing an innovative artist who is just starting to flex their myriad skills and talents.”

— Andrea Warner, CBC Music (Canada, 2022) READ

"Deciding at the last minute to book it to KEX to see a musician I was previously unaware of and had no expectations for and then being absolutely bowled over with awe and emotion is just the [Iceland] Airwaves magic I needed."

— Catharine Fulton, Reykjavík Grapevine (Iceland, 2023) READ

"Through visceral lyrics and a versatile style that refuses to be defined or contained, their music is layered, thematic, and deeply emotional."

— Joseph Bardsley, Creative BC (Canada, 2022) READ

"Her brand of self-stylized 'Weird Pop?' makes for a record that feels more like an arthouse film — wildly compelling for being both immediate and just beyond reach; full of zigzags that eventually reveal patterns."

— Megan LaPierre, Exclaim! (Canada, 2022) READ

"Canadian artist Tegan Wahlgren knows like no other how to take listeners on a trip-like journey. You press play, suddenly you're caught in a Kafkaesque soundscape that won't let you go so quickly." (Translated from German)

— 101FM Deutschland (Germany, 2020) READ

Past Performances

JUN 29, 2026

SEP 26, 2025

MAY 23, 2025

FEB 2, 2025

JUN 20-21, 2024

MAY 3-18, 2024

NOV 1-7, 2023

MAY 2023

OCT 22, 2022

MAY 6-27, 2022

OCT 7-9, 2021

OCT 5, 2021

SEP 29 - OCT 4, 2021

OCT 2019

Vancouver International Jazz Festival (Vancouver, CAN)

Pop Montreal Festival (Montreal, CAN)

Panda Bear - Support Act @ Hollywood Theatre (Vancouver, CAN)

Eivør - Support Act @ The Pearl (Vancouver, CAN)

Sled Island Music & Arts Festival (Calgary, CAN)

Germany/Austria/Switzerland Tour (10 dates)

Hamburg, Magdeburg, Bochum, Vienna, Munich, Kreuzlingen, Stuttgart, Bern, Hanau, Saarbrücken

Iceland Airwaves (Reykjavík, Iceland)

The Great Escape (Brighton, UK)

Yet Again The Wheel Turns Album Release Show
@ The Fox Cabaret (Vancouver, CAN)

Germany/Austria/Switzerland Tour (15 dates)

Reichenbach im Vogtland, Hanau, Offenbach, Bochum, Krefeld, Saarbrücken, Kreuzlingen, Wetzlar, Hannover, Kiel, Munich, Lübeck, Hamburg, Berlin

Tallinn Music Week (Tallinn, Estonia)

BreakOut West London Showcase (London, UK)

FOCUS Wales (Wrexham, UK)

BreakOut West (Whitehorse, CAN)

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Press Release Archive

April 9, 2024

Wallgrin Announces Single Release, "Arrow to the Wind"

(Vancouver, BC) — Wallgrin releases "Arrow to the Wind", their first single since the 2022 album Yet Again The Wheel Turns.

"This song describes the feeling of being pulled back towards your loved ones in your darkest hour — the idea that when you feel a connection, it stays with you forever, no matter how fleeting. As the first entirely self-produced and mixed Wallgrin track in many years, it's the most earnest and personal thing I've made in a long time. My dad Roland Wahlgren played trumpet on this one, too, which feels rather special."

"Arrow to the Wind'' is the first in a series of singles Wallgrin will be releasing through 2024-2025, leading up to a yet-to-be-announced album. It also comes ahead of Wallgrin's tour of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in May 2024.

"Arrow to the Wind" is available on all major streaming platforms as of April 9, 2024.

March 1, 2024

Wallgrin Announces Video Release for "At Rest"

A lost figure in a long-decayed party dress wanders through the ruins of a limestone quarry, ghostlike. Somehow, everyone else has disappeared without warning — all that’s left is one person and the vastness of the world around them.

This short film examines the differences between human, ecological, and geological time scales, which are so expansive that seldom do we get to see explicitly how they affect one another. It becomes starkly apparent at a rock quarry, where millions of years of geological development can be dismantled in a matter of months, days, hours. But comparatively, these hours, days, and months matter very little to the movements of plates in the Earth’s mantle, or the sediments depositing themselves in layers upon layers over millennia. Similarly, the mine facility existed for only a few decades, and has already been partially reclaimed by the land a short time after being abandoned.

“At Rest” imagines a great stillness — a moment where all human activity ceases. It’s an idea that’s been explored in science fiction many times over, a trope that touches on those deeply human fears of aloneness, abandonment, and death. But, in stillness, there is also peace to be found. Here, a human breath reminds us of how the Universe itself is expanding —the inhale— and will then reverse course and contract — the exhale, the end of everything. The Big Bang and the Big Crunch are the deepest breath ever taken.

“And I only had a single breath
To gather myself up again
Before the end of time”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — March 6, 2023

Wallgrin Announces Video Release for "Every Fall, I Fall In Love" on March 31

(Vancouver, BC) — On March 31st, alt-pop artist Wallgrin will release the second music video from their 2022 album, Yet Again The Wheel Turns, for the song “Every Fall, I Fall In Love”.

Directed by filmmaker Sarah Genge, “Every Fall, I Fall In Love” was filmed at the Chemainus River Estuary on Vancouver Island. The end of summer burns bright across the landscape, shimmering along dry grasses and muddy rivulets. Wallgrin is a lone figure in the scenery, clothed more appropriately for a late-night jazz bar than for a foray into nature. Their presence plays as part of a deconstructed dreamscape — an isolated, loudly-dressed wanderer in a quietly dazzling environment. The song picks up jauntily with the line, “Every Fall, I fall in love/Withering life just turns me on”, addressing the strange synchrony of a new love blossoming alongside nature’s yearly cycle of death and decay. As golden hour descends into the black of night, nothing but a stark spotlight illuminates Wallgrin as the lounge-y piano gives way to towering, dramatic synths.

“Fall is somehow the season of love, in my imagination. I seem to have a pattern of beginning new relationships or developing crushes as summer wanes, which gives the encroaching autumn crispness a totally romantic connotation. Some of those infatuations have worked out, and others, not so much — the memories of my Fall romances are certainly bittersweet. Being immersed in a new romantic love is one of the most exciting feelings ever, but it can also be a bit lonely. You’re still testing the waters, maybe having some doubts, or worrying that the object of your affection is having their own second thoughts. Infatuation is such a strong feeling that there’s a fragility to it. And so, the highs and the lows of autumnal love carry forth.”

The video for “Every Fall I Fall In Love” will be available on Youtube and Vimeo on March 31, 2023.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — September 20, 2022

Wallgrin Announces Album Release, Yet Again The Wheel Turns, on October 14

(Vancouver, BC) — On October 14th, alt-pop artist Wallgrin will release their sophomore album, Yet Again The Wheel Turns. Following their mythologically-inspired 2018 debut Bird/Alien, Yet Again The Wheel Turns broadens Wallgrin’s musical and thematic range, shaped by influences such as 1970s progressive rock, Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain, and surrealist philosophy. The album was co-produced by Wallgrin and longtime collaborator Harley Small, recorded in Vancouver, BC from late 2020 to early 2022.

Yet Again The Wheel Turns reflects on themes of inevitability, recurring patterns, and yielding to unalterable forces. Various songs explore reincarnation (“Yet Again The Wheel Turns” and “Life Is Over”), mass extinction (“Slice In The Mouth”), the climate crisis (“At Rest”), unhealthy patterns of romantic love (“Every Fall, I Fall in Love” and “Silver Trail”), and the futility of seeking the meaning of life (“Yolk”, “PseudoReligion”, and “Knowing”). The entire album is also bound together by the interweaving of musical elements from song to song, with melodies re-emerging and bass lines repeating in various choruses, bridges and verses.

“This is an album about feeling ecstatically powerless. In other words, the act of surrendering to natural cycles, such as disease, death, and heartbreak, that are ultimately beyond human influence. Then, there are also those recurring patterns in our lives that are perhaps not so fateful — where maybe the cycle, the wheel itself, can be broken. In either case, accepting inevitability can feel delectably freeing, or rather like a prison. When is it necessary to take control, and when is it best to relinquish it?”

Yet Again The Wheel Turns will be available on all major streaming platforms on October 14, 2022.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — August 5, 2022

Wallgrin Announces Single Release, "Yolk", on September 2

(Vancouver, BC) — On September 2nd, alt-pop artist Wallgrin will release the final single, “Yolk”, from their upcoming sophomore album, Yet Again The Wheel Turns, due for release in Fall 2022.

Yet Again The Wheel Turns reflects on themes of inevitability, endless cycles, and surrendering to unalterable forces. “Yolk”, as its title suggests, seeks to get to the heart of the matter — to end rumination, and to break out of the grapple-hold of a relationship’s toxic patterns. The yolk is also an on-the-nose metaphor for the core, the meaning of life itself. “When will I know what’s inside the yolk?” is inevitably a helpless, rhetorical question.

In contrast to the psych-rock influence of April’s double single release “Yet Again The Wheel Turns” & “PseudoReligion”, “Yolk” remains flowing, organic, and leans into beauty. The comfort of the consistent, dancing melody alongside the padding of lush strings and heavenly harps pairs itself with the unease of the song’s sentiment: a kind of tranquility emerges when one gives up on finding the deep meaning in things, and simply allows them to be chaotic without reasoning.

“Yolk”, along with the rest of Yet Again The Wheel Turns, was co-produced by Wallgrin and longtime collaborator Harley Small.

“This song was written during a time of great transition for me, in late 2019. I was between jobs, between relationships, living in a basement suite that didn’t quite feel like home — a time spent being unsure of so many things. I wrote ‘Yolk’ as an ode to uncertainty, to the pit in my stomach, that space between dread and hope.”

"Yolk" will be available on all major streaming platforms on September 2, 2022.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — April 4, 2022

Wallgrin Announces Double Single Release, "Yet Again The Wheel Turns" & "PseudoReligion", on April 29

(Vancouver, BC) — Later this month, alt-pop artist Wallgrin will unveil two tracks —"Yet Again The Wheel Turns" and "PseudoReligion"— from their upcoming sophomore album. Both unabashedly influenced by psychedelic rock, these songs herald a noticeable departure from Wallgrin’s previous work in experimental pop. The double single comes ahead of Wallgrin’s Germany tour from May 6-27, and anticipates the release of the album, also called Yet Again The Wheel Turns, in September 2022.

Yet Again The Wheel Turns —the album— reflects on themes of inevitability, endless cycles, and surrendering to unalterable forces. The title track introduces these motifs through a steady, meditative beginning that eventually gives way to a kaleidoscopic swirling of voices and synthesizers. “Again and again and again and again…”

"PseudoReligion" presents a dark and quiet opening that, by the end of the 5-minute song, has unfolded into a noisy maelstrom of Pink Floyd-esque vocals and a ferocious electric guitar solo provided by Vancouver-based instrumentalist Tristan Paxton.

The two tracks are connected by a shared bassline — a constant presence throughout "PseudoReligion" that also emerges in the bridge of "Yet Again The Wheel Turns". The entire yet-to-be-released album is in fact bound together by this interweaving of musical elements from song to song. "Yet Again The Wheel Turns" and "PseudoReligion" were co-produced by Wallgrin and longtime collaborator Harley Small. Written by Wallgrin in late 2019, the evolution of these songs from voice memo to studio has been over two years in the making.

“These are among the first songs I wrote for the new album, back in the winter of 2019. I barely had a chance to perform them live before the pandemic hit — as I played and revisited them over the next two years, they seemed to put words to those universal feelings of confusion, grief, and fear that so many of us experienced. 'Am I a fool for seeking clarity, when I know that nothing will ever be clear?' ('PseudoReligion') That was what I was wrestling with — the idea of surrendering to the unknown, which feels like such an unnatural thing to do. Eventually, I was forced to let go of any resistance I had once harboured, and allow myself to believe the unbelievable.”

"Yet Again The Wheel Turns" and "PseudoReligion" will be available on all major streaming platforms on April 29, 2022.

February 18, 2025

Wallgrin Announces Single and Music Video Release for "To Be A Creature"

(Vancouver, BC) — On March 11th, avant-pop artist Wallgrin will release "To Be A Creature", the first single and music video from a yet-to-be-announced album project. Headed by Vancouver-based composer, vocalist and violinist Tegan Wahlgren, Wallgrin's sound feels at home among artists like Caroline Polachek, Florence + the Machine, Kate Bush, and Weyes Blood — always pop-adjacent but never afraid to experiment. Wahlgren's younger years in a Celtic fiddle group and choral ensemble have shaped a timeless sense of melody and love of lush harmonies, with added left-field influences from a degree in electroacoustic music composition. Following their 2022 album Yet Again The Wheel Turns, this next single represents a refinement of Wallgrin's world-building, leaning further into the fantasy and mythological imagery that was also explored in their 2018 debut, Bird/Alien.

Watch "To Be A Creature" music video HERE

Stream/download “To Be A Creature" single HERE

"The lyrics of 'To Be A Creature' may read as a cynical take on the creation of online identity, and how we are constrained by social expectations. Maybe there's a hint of that, but mostly, I was writing from a place of endearment. I think about how my friends and I endlessly circulate these adorable videos of baby hippos, cats, dogs, birds, and other unusual animals — they're all so blissfully unaware of their own sweetness. And I often think of human beings that way, too. You're just another animal on the screen, who can enchant and connect with others in ways you may never know."

In the accompanying video, directed by Jacob Pascoe (Haley Blais, Kylie V), Wallgrin becomes a sort of archaeologist straight out of a 90s fantasy film. Uncovering artifacts in various corners of a lush woodland leads to the performance of a magical ritual — an inter-dimensional teleportation spell. As the landscape and colours shift and warp around them, Wallgrin strides purposefully towards a strange black rectangle floating in midair. Upon approaching, with barely a pause, they climb out of the letterbox frame and into the ether between screen and viewer, disappearing into the void.

"While conceptualizing this video, Jake and I talked at length about the idea of the frame. Within the traditional letterbox, we are both confined and empowered. That fixed rectangle creates limits of expression, but also the means to obscure that which is undesirable to see — to leave something hidden just out of frame. Jake's idea to have me casually walk out of the box is simple but striking. There's a feeling of reaching towards something unimaginable, beyond the boundaries of the screen."

"To Be A Creature" will be available as a single and music video on March 11, 2025.

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July 21, 2026

Wallgrin Announces Single + Video Release for "Dovetail" on July 31, Album Release in October 2026

(Toronto, ON) — On July 31st, experimental pop artist Wallgrin will release a new single, "Dovetail", and an accompanying visualizer video. This is the first in a set of three singles to be released this year ahead of Wallgrin’s upcoming album, Underworld Songbook, which comes out October 23, 2026 on Bronze Age Feeling Records.

Watch "Dovetail" Visualizer Video HERE
Stream/download “Dovetail" single HERE

Headed by Toronto-via-Vancouver composer, vocalist and violinist Tegan Wahlgren, Wallgrin's sound feels at home among artists like Caroline Polachek, Aurora, Florence + the Machine, and Kate Bush — pop-adjacent and never afraid to experiment. Wahlgren's younger years in a Celtic fiddle group and choral ensemble have shaped a timeless sense of melody and love of lush harmonies, with added left-field influences from a degree in electroacoustic music composition. Their raw and expressive live performances have brought them to festivals like Iceland Airwaves, The Great Escape (UK), and Tallinn Music Week (Estonia). Following their 2018 debut Bird/Alien and 2022 album Yet Again The Wheel Turns, this upcoming release represents an even further dive into Wallgrin’s world-building. “Dovetail” is our invitation into the Underworld, a realm of the complete unknown, the so-called Void of Memory.

“Dovetail” is a song about longing for closeness and sending messages to your other half across vast stretches of time and space — truly one for the “I’ll find you in every lifetime” kinds of lovers. Wallgrin’s roots in Celtic music re-emerge, as the main hook of the song is a fiddle reel, weaving in and out of breakbeats and vocal harmonies that recall Loreena McKennitt’s 1997 hit “The Mummer’s Dance”. The visualizer/lyric video for “Dovetail”, handmade by Wallgrin, feels like a set of cutscenes straight from your favourite childhood fantasy computer game. 3D scans of Bronze Age artifacts fly across the screen, as though we’re seeing the remains of an ancient spacecraft in the starlit void.

“I’ve always had a fascination with Deep Time, and thinking about ways we could communicate with people thousands of years from now. How can we tell them the truth in a way that will last, and won’t be misinterpreted? There are real and important reasons to figure this out, such as marking a nuclear waste site so future generations won’t disturb it even after human language has evolved past recognition. But ‘Dovetail’ is more like, what if I fall into a Time Portal tomorrow and get stuck thousands of years ago, but I just wanted to say ‘I love you’?”

"Dovetail" will be available as a single and video on July 31st, 2026.

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August 21, 2026

Wallgrin Announces Single + Video Release for "IDK" on August 28

(Toronto, ON) — On August 28th, experimental pop artist Wallgrin releases their second single of the summer, "I.D.K.", with an accompanying music video. Following “Dovetail”, this is the second in a set of three singles being released ahead of Wallgrin’s upcoming album, Underworld Songbook, which comes out October 23rd, 2026 on Bronze Age Feeling Records.

Watch "I.D.K." Video HERE
Stream/download “I.D.K." single HERE

Headed by Toronto-via-Vancouver composer, vocalist and violinist Tegan Wahlgren, Wallgrin's sound feels at home among artists like Caroline Polachek, Aurora, Florence + the Machine, and Kate Bush — pop-adjacent and never afraid to experiment. Wahlgren's younger years in a Celtic fiddle group and choral ensemble have shaped a timeless sense of melody and love of lush harmonies, with added left-field influences from a degree in electroacoustic music composition. Their raw and expressive live performances have brought them to festivals like Iceland Airwaves, The Great Escape (UK), and Tallinn Music Week (Estonia). Following their 2018 debut Bird/Alien and 2022 album Yet Again The Wheel Turns, the upcoming release of Underworld Songbook is the clearest window yet into Wallgrin’s universe, where the mysterious Bronze Age Feeling Institute has uncovered various access points to the Underworld of myth and legend itself.

Archaeology-core finally gets its time in the sun with this video handmade by Wallgrin: it plays out as a series of recorded video calls between them and the team of scientists at the Bronze Age Feeling Institute. As they discuss the latest findings in their study of the Underworld, we see flashes of ancient texts, 3D scans of caverns and barrows, and Facetime calls from remote islands… before it all crashes to a halt in a psychedelic climax.

“This song came out of a time of processing grief, when it felt like reality was completely unraveling. I took a trip to a tiny island off the coast of Vancouver, climbed to the very top, and just let myself reckon with death — the heaviness ran through me like a waterfall. There, I saw the ocean, the mountains, the sky, all of it swirling together with no beginning or end. I now understood how much tension I held in my need for clarity and reason… The video is all about rigorous scientific analysis until, without warning, it must be pushed aside to make way for pure feeling. It represents the moment I succumbed to Not Knowing, and learned to swim in the sea of uncertainty.”

“I.D.K." will be available as a single and video on August 28th, 2026.

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September 17, 2026

Wallgrin Announces Single Release for "Hound of Hades" on September 25

(Toronto, ON) — On September 25th, experimental pop artist Wallgrin will release “Hound of Hades", the final single before their new album, Underworld Songbook, comes out on October 23rd. On the heels of “Dovetail” and “I.D.K.”, “Hound of Hades” completes the trio of Wallgrin’s summer singles as the exuberant opening track of the album.

Wallgrin’s sound alights somewhere between the realms of Caroline Polachek and Loreena McKennitt: forward-thinking pop that remains rooted in something timeless and ancient, alongside bold, exploratory vocal prowess. Headed by Tegan Wahlgren, the Toronto-via-Vancouver composer, vocalist and violinist’s younger years full of fiddle music have shaped a sense of melody that retains a deeply Celtic flair, with harmonic language to match. In recent years, Wallgrin’s spirited and raw live performances have brought them to festivals like Iceland Airwaves, The Great Escape, FOCUS Wales, and Tallinn Music Week. The October 2026 release of Underworld Songbook follows 2018’s Bird/Alien and 2022’s Yet Again The Wheel Turns.

“‘Hound of Hades’ is the first song on the album, the one that beckons us into the abyss. As the legend goes, the Hound is the guardian of the Underworld, the one who prevents the dead from reentering the land of the living. It’s a way to describe something that stands between you and a return to the way things were. There’s no going back. We’ve entered the brief time where you live in that threshold space — just after the big decision is made, and right before the side-swipe of the next unexpected, world-shattering event. There’s a kind of sanctuary in that moment: the past set in stone, comfortingly knowable, while you revel in the dreamworld of a future yet unwritten.”

“Hound of Hades" will be out on all streaming platforms on September 25th, 2026.

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Wallgrin

Music

Bio

Photos

PHOTO CREDIT: Mackenzie Walker

Press Quotes