Parissa Tosif Announces Debut Album, Shares Single ‘River (گلریز)’

‘River (گلریز)’ is the third single taken from Parissa Tosif’s upcoming debut, I have this memory of you.

Iranian-Australian vocalist, songwriter and producer Parissa Tosif (pronounced pa-REE-sa toe-SIF) has announced her debut album I have this memory of you is dropping independently on Friday 26 March (pre-save here).

Although having never visited Iran, I have this memory of you is a collection of songs inspired by the stories of her family and her own lived experience as an Iranian-Australian that finds Tosif reconnecting with her Iranian ancestry.

The album is produced alongside Andrew Grant and includes collaborations with Alice Ivy and live Iranian instrumentation, including the daf, tombak, and oud.

“This project has made me so deeply reflect on my relationship to place. One that I will never visit, that is such a fundamental part of who I am, and how I look, and how the world interacts with me,” Tosif says of the record.

“This album is a meditation on belonging to a place I've never seen. The title reflects a closeness to a motherland I think I have a memory of, but then realise I don't. A place that is mine, but isn't. Ten songs tracing the lives and emotional inheritance passed down by friends and family willing to share their stories so I could connect to Iran, and the experiences of those who have left their homeland. Weaving in live recorded Iranian instruments, I've attempted to integrate Persian sounds into Western music - not perfectly, but exactly as I am, navigating this in-between space.”

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Tosif has also shared the latest taste of I have this memory of you, the cathartic third single ‘River (گلریز)’.

“When I speak to my family about identity and the motherland, I can see that it is such a complex and emotional thought to ponder for them,” Tosif says of the song. “My grandparents fled from danger but also left behind a world of a life where they had an identity, status, community and meaning. Their resilience - and the resilience of my parents, and so many migrants, refugees astounds me. In another way, this song touches on the inequality of life's circumstance, how fleeting it is to have means, and the reality of the 'American dream' that so many migrants have to face - this comes through in the chorus.”

‘River (گلریز)’ by Parissa Tosif is out now. Listen here. I have this memory of you arrives independently on Friday 26 March. Pre-save here.