Colin 
Alice Costelloe has released her new single ‘Damned If You Do’, taken from her upcoming debut album Move On With The Year, which arrives on 6 February 2026 through Moshi Moshi Records. The track marks another step in a year that has already seen Alice gain strong radio and press backing, large streaming support, and fast-growing demand for her upcoming tour. The new single arrives today along with its video, giving listeners a closer look at the world she has shaped for her first solo record.
‘Damned If You Do’ turns its focus to a period in Alice’s life marked by decisive choices, emotional strain, and the tension between personal growth and societal expectation. Across the song, she reflects on marriage, motherhood, creative freedom, and the pull between stability and ambition. The single places her voice at the centre, framed by warm organ tones, plaintive guitar, and low, rumbling synths. The lyric “Would I do it for love / Do it for you / Give my body up / For something new” sits as a clear anchor in a piece built around uncertainty rather than fixed answers.
Speaking about the single, Alice explains that the album grew from a moment where she found renewed clarity in her creative life, even as major life decisions pressed in from all sides. Her writing looks at the push and pull between domestic expectations and artistic fulfilment, shaped by her own experiences growing up as the child of an addict. She describes the line “I don’t see myself all dressed in white / standing in the shadows” as a response to pressure, tradition, and the long shadow cast by old patterns. It is a line delivered with a steady, unflinching tone.
A debut album shaped by repair, reflection, and new direction
Produced by Mike Lindsay in Margate, Move On With The Year brings together mellotron drones, warped synths, fluttering flutes, and fragile piano passages. Alice moves away from the sharper indie-rock lines of her past and steps into something more intimate, detailed, and personal. She cites influence from Feist, Julia Jacklin, Cate Le Bon, and Andy Shauf, yet the album stands on its own through its focus, restraint, and emotional clarity.
The record documents a slow process of rebuilding, written across the turn from summer to autumn. Alice puts complex experiences into sharp phrases that land with precision, drawing on childhood memories shaped by addiction and the long recovery that follows. These songs trace moments of heartbreak, resilience, confusion, and calm, delivered with a voice that stays poised while refusing easy resolution.
Alice has spent this year supporting Gengahr across the UK and Future Islands in Europe, earning support from BBC 6 Music hosts including Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Craig Charles, Nick Grimshaw, Nemone, and Iggy Pop. Her previous releases have already earned praise from Loud And Quiet, DIY, Wonderland, CLASH, Dork, The Line of Best Fit, and The New Cue. With Move On With The Year, she marks a clear shift into a more defined artistic space.
Alice tours the album across the UK in February and March 2026, with a second London date added after the first sold out in minutes. She also supports Lael Neale for two London shows on 6 December. ‘Damned If You Do’ is out now.
You can follow Alice Costelloe over on Instagram.