In 2026, Simona Castricum returns with Villain, her fifth studio album, led by the singles ‘Rupture’, ‘Say Less’ and ‘Outgrown’.
Villain fully embodies guitars, drums and synths in Simona’s musical direction. Built around percussive atmospheres and held together by live performance, the album marks Castricum’s first collaboration with drummer Anetta Nevin (The Dianas, Cars That Ate Paris).
Recorded at Rolling Stock Studios in Collingwood and Castricum’s own Trans-Brunswick Express studio, the sessions were built around the live exchange among drums, guitar, and voice, developed through Simona and Anetta’s regular performances throughout 2025.
The album was co-produced with Sui Zhen, engineered by Screensaver’s Jonnine Nokes and mixed by Los Angeles-based producer Jorge Elbrecht, whose credits include Wild Nothing, Tamaryn and Sky Ferreira, and who received a Grammy nomination for his work with Japanese Breakfast.
While Simona’s centre of gravity has shifted sonically, Villain is her most political and subversive work since Panic/Desire. Constructed around the conceptual persona, Villain performs the political and relational projections that shape its world.
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