Leaning more heavily on emotional reality than diary details, the kernel of truth and experience always shines through in Riolino’s songwriting. That duality rings like a lovesick bell on ‘Isn’t It A Pity’, a track lodged somewhere between AM radio breeze and the florid wash of Waxahatchee. Trilling organ and Roddy Carlyle’s rangy bass play the perfect complement to Riolino’s sweetly strummed acoustic. “Isn’t it a pity, isn’t it a shame / The flowers in our garden have bloomed and shed their fray,” she bounces, before adding lines about astral projection, bringing a modernist edge to the vintage proceedings.

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While also moonlighting as part of Daniel Romano’s ‘The Outfit’, Riolino has slowly but surely been building a solo career of her own over the past few years with this debut LP following on from her 2019 EP, J.R. which helped to establish Julianna’s musical direction while finding her open for the likes of Julie Doiron, Daniel Romano and Born Ruffians across North America.

This latest cut from the forthcoming debut record, ‘Queen of Spades’ arrives as another snappy installment of Riolino’s knack for power-pop-adjacent alt-country in the same vein as Jenny Lewis, Emmylou Harris and Judee Sill. The sway and twang of ‘Queen of Spades’ veils references to the other three suits in a deck of cards, Riolino rewarding closer listens though even the surface level is downright Parton-esque. “And it breaks my heart in two/ Pieces of a portrait be/ Happiness and fragility,” she sings, pedal steel guitar gliding through her tight harmonies, the song a musical middle finger to an insincere lover.

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While also moonlighting as part of Daniel Romano’s ‘The Outfit’, Riolino has slowly but surely been building a solo career of her own over the past few years with this debut LP following on from her 2019 EP, J.R. which helped to establish Julianna’s musical direction while finding her open for the likes of Julie Doiron, Daniel Romano and Born Ruffians across North America.

This second single, ‘You’ really doubles down on Julianna’s profound and mature way of songwriting, bringing Roy Orbison tinges into the mix while also touching on the sounds of some of Riolino’s other heroes: Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and The Band. It zig-zags between girl group harmonies repeating the title and nimbly dense verses – as if Riolino is attempting to convince herself that she doesn’t need someone, even if she hates to see them leave. “Oh retroflex the feeling / Of thoughtful micro-needing / Of my mind and soul / I don’t really need you,” she insists, her voice soaring majestically into the upper register.

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Riolino knows how to capture and highlight beauty before it fades. She spent her days running up to the recording of her solo debut album helping restore the stained glass windows at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto. Surrounded by symbols configured in bits of 19th-century French glass, Riolino couldn’t help but reflect on her own past and the memories of pains, healing, and love strewn through it. “It made me think about life as a balancing act, and we’re all just trying to do our best to navigate it,” she says. That focus on morality and the stretch of time seeped naturally into Riolino’s Americana-indebted songwriting, resulting in the golden, fluid All Blue.

The first single, ‘Lone Ranger’ perfectly encapsulates Riolino’s ability to reenvision the warmest strands of musical sepia and put her own individualist stamp on them. “I’m a lone ranger in this lonely world,” she repeats, Thomas Hammerton’s honky-tonk piano romping over the rippling rhythm and buzzsaw guitar. The song’s urgent independence plays throughout the record, Riolino for better and worse taking sole ownership of her place.

Recorded in August 2020 at the now-shuttered Baldwin Street Sound, All Blue was produced by Aaron Goldstein (credits with Cowboy Junkies, Ducks Ltd, Le Ren, Kiwi Jr) and largely features a cadre of musicians playing together in the room. “Recording live made for some long days, but it was a lot of fun and I had the benefit of working with some really talented people,” Riolino says. “It helped create this feeling of glimpsing a moment in time. It’s like therapy: I could just let out this period of life and then move forward.”

All Blue:

1. If I Knew Now
2. Isn’t It A Pity
3. Lone Ranger
4. Archangel
5. Queen of Spade
6. Hark!
7. Memory of Blue
8. Why Do I Miss You
9. Long Feeling
10. You
11. Thistle and Thorned

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