Iona Zajac Announces Debut Album Bang – Out 21st November

If you’re not already across Iona Zajac, prepare to be obsessed. The Glasgow singer-songwriter and genre-defier has just announced her debut album Bang, out 21st November, and it’s shaping up to be one of the most arresting releases of the year.

Zajac’s not new to the stage, she’s spent 2025 supporting icons like Alison Moyet and tearing up the scene with The Pogues, but Bang marks her full arrival as a solo artist. And trust us: this isn’t just another introspective indie record. It’s feral. It’s funny. It’s feminist. And it might just change the way you think about anger, desire, and what it means to feel.

“Dilute”: Dream Logic, Screaming Faces & Feral Feminism

With the release of new single “Dilute”, Zajac offers another intoxicating sip from the Bang bottle. It’s one of the record’s weirdest and most powerful moments, channelling dream logic, rage, and surrealist beauty into something that feels halfway between a protest song and a primal scream.

“Why can’t we run around with red faces, screaming at men who’ve wronged us?” she asks, dead serious and wildly poetic.

Anchored by off-kilter rhythms and a vocal that veers from tender to terrifying, “Dilute” is a rallying cry for anyone who’s ever been told to calm down. It’s giving witch energy. It’s giving burn-it-down catharsis. And visually, the music video (directed by Carys Huws) is just as striking – think Judy Chicago meets DIY dreamscape.

A Year of Bang-Level Moves

Zajac’s 2025 already reads like a breakout artist’s fever dream. In February, she dropped the haunting single “Summer” – her first new solo material since 2023 – just in time to hit the road with Alison Moyet on a sold-out 25-date theatre tour. And if you caught her at London’s Palladium or Dublin’s 3Olympia, you know she’s got the vocal range and emotional punch to hold her own on the biggest of stages.

But it’s her work with The Pogues that’s turned heads this year. After joining their legendary Dublin reunion in late 2024, she’s now a full touring member, singing Pogues classics alongside Spider Stacey, James Fearnley, and a powerhouse line-up that includes Nadine Shah, Lisa O’Neill, and Daragh Lynch (Lankum).

From Glasgow Barrowlands to New York’s Terminal 5, Zajac’s been everywhere – and now she’s heading back across the Atlantic this Friday for a US/Canada tour with the band.

Bang: The Album We’ve Been Waiting For

Across 11 tracks, Bang threads together the personal and the political, the poetic and the punk. There’s bruising honesty in songs like “Anton” – a brutal unpacking of toxic masculinity – and surrealist joy in “Chicken Supermarket” (yes, that’s a real song title and yes, there’s jelly and Billy Connolly involved).

It’s not all anger, though. There’s playfulness, sensuality, and even silliness. Title track “Bang” is a bold celebration of sexual freedom outside the male gaze – equal parts guitar-pop and girl-gang anthem. The whole record crackles with contradiction, leaning into discomfort in a way that’s strangely comforting.

Zajac name-checks Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, and Lucia Berlin as influences, but her sonic world also touches PJ Harvey, Angel Olsen, Portishead, and the shadowy elegance of Sibylle Baier. She’s not trying to be anyone else – but if you’re a fan of the bruised beauty and emotional wallop of those artists, Bang will hit hard.

“There’s more to life than songs,” Zajac says, “but it really does feel like a lot of my past 15 years in a nutshell.”

Catch Iona Zajac Live

(Yes, you should get tickets now)

Zajac’s reputation as a live performer is no joke. Whether howling with The Pogues or whispering solo on theatre stages, she’s magnetic. She continues her North American tour this week with The Pogues, before returning to the UK for a string of intimate headline shows (including a big London moment at The Social on 27th November – mark it).

Upcoming Dates Include:

• Sept 5th – Lincoln Centre, Washington (with The Pogues)
• Sept 13th – CityFolk Festival, Ottawa (with The Pogues)
• Sept 22–24th – Glasgow & Gateshead (w/ Lisa O’Neill)
• Nov 27th – The Social, London (headline album launch)

Pre-order Bang here – and if you’re feeling brave, maybe start painting your face red now.

Album Tracklisting – Bang

1. Bowls
2. Bang
3. Dilute
4. Summer
5. End of the Year
6. Anton
7. Salt
8. Chicken Supermarket
9. Murder Mystery
10. Ridiculous Hat
11. Loving is Rough