Hilary Woods

Born in Dublin, Hilary Woods was initially the bassist of JJ72 from 1996 to 2003, part of an Irish trio tied to the early-2000s alternative scene. After a long withdrawal from music, she returned by a more personal and stripped-down route: first as The River Cry with an album in 2013, then under her own name with the EP Night (2014) and Heartbox (2016). Her solo trajectory moves across folk-ambient, minimalism, experimental rock and subtle electronic textures, with songwriting centered on voice, piano, dark pads and nocturnal atmospheres. She develops this language on Colt (2018), Birthmarks (2020), Feral Hymns (2021, EP), Acts of Light (2023) and Night CRIÚ (2025). Her work, released notably on Sacred Bones, remains attached to a slow, physical and introspective universe, distant from the rock format of her beginnings. Between song, drone and experimental music, Hilary Woods has built a compact solo oeuvre marked by silence, repetition and a highly visual approach to sound.