Julia Shapiro's debut solo album to hit shelves this June

Julia Shapiro of Chastity Belt is set to release her debut solo album, Perfect Version, on June 14.

This follows the launch of her dreamy leading single, Natural which reflects on self improvement and begrudgingly learning to love yourself.

Having to cancel the remaining tour dates of Chastity Belt last year after suffering from health problems and a break up, Shapiro became depressed.

“I was really struggling; I was really depressed. I felt like I couldn’t sing or be a person, ” she says. “At that point I couldn’t even imagine playing a show again, I was so over it.”

Returning home to Seattle, Shapiro was met with an existential crisis, not knowing where her career or life was heading. In the meantime, she wrote her first solo effort album.

Impressively playing and mixing virtually all instruments on the album (aside from a trumpet solo by Darron Hanlon and Annie Truscott’s violin), Perfect Version is an intimate and strikingly self aware album.

“When the rest of my life felt out of control, I felt like this was my chance to be in control of everything,” the singer-songwriter recalls.

Tapping into escapist fantasies of living in an isolated wood and musings on how she should go to bed earlier, Shapiro’s work is relatable to all who have felt lost at some point in their lives.

Drawing on artists such as Elliott Smith, she takes simple everyday occurrences like circling around a block to find a parking space and waxes them into deep existential metaphors on how she feels she’s not going anywhere in her life.

The music video for Natural features quirky stop motion animation and hazy colourful shots. The layered guitars and Shapiro’s drawling vocals create a soothing, heavy eyed atmosphere.

Natural is no doubt a promising leading single for Shapiro’s debut solo album.