Elizabeth Wyld Releasing ‘Quiet Year’ Friday

Indie folk artist Elizabeth Wyld is stepping back into the spotlight as a musician with her debut album Quiet Year, set for release this Friday.

Wyld initially began in Broadway, but her career came to a halt when she was diagnosed with unilateral vocal fold paralysis. Over the time of silence, she began to write lyrics, work on her guitar skills, and embraced her sexuality. Now, Wyld returns to music to share her debut LP.

Quiet Year came together following the lengthy, months-long period where she was unable to speak above a whisper volume. She spent that time writing poetry, and a lot of those poems turned into songs.

“I was able to recover my voice, and as soon as I could sing again, I booked my first show and played a lot of those songs,” Wyld said in an interview with OFM last month. “After a while, I was like, ‘What am I going to do with all this?’ So, I decided to release it in an album and wrote a few more songs so I could tell a complete story about my vocal paralysis and the heartbreak that I endured during that time. That is Quiet Year in a nutshell.”

Wyld grew up in rural Virginia, and she says that her experience as an LGBTQ person who has gone in and out of the closet, and her variety of influences past and present, set her apart from others in her genre. She says that her debut is an underdog story.

“There was a lot that I dealt with during that time, and as I look back, I kind of realized a lot of it had to do with mental health … Beyond that, I was doing a lot of self-exploration at the time. Before the vocal paralysis happened, I was in a relationship with a guy and came out of that experience realizing that I definitely like girls. I cannot hide from this part of myself anymore. So, I think Quiet Year will relate to a lot of people who struggle with their identity or sexuality and people that may struggle with mental health problems as well.”

Quiet Year is out May 7.

Check out more from Elizabeth Wyld on Bandcamp, Spotify, and Youtube.