Natalie McCool has announced her new album Good For The Soul, and this already feels like one of the records I am going to spend months being impatient about. The album arrives on 9th September and follows 2021’s stunning Memory Girl.
The announcement comes with ‘Coming of Age’, featuring Trans Voices, while recent single ‘I Fantasise’ with Ellysse Mason also appears on the record. Beyond those two tracks, the album is staying mostly under wraps for now, which only makes the whole thing more tempting.
From Widnes Beginnings To Liverpool Pop Architecture
Natalie McCool grew up in Widnes, started playing guitar at six, and later studied at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. That route matters here, because Good For The Soul sounds rooted in craft rather than trend-chasing.
Her story already has some brilliant turns. Natalie had a one-to-one masterclass with Paul McCartney, then won a songwriting contest judged by Chris Martin of Coldplay. Since then, she has built a catalogue across her self-titled debut, The Great Unknown, Memory Girl and now this new chapter.
More on Natalie McCool
There is a clear line from that earlier work into Good For The Soul. Natalie has moved from guitar-led intimacy into brighter pop shapes, electronic detail and more self-directed production, while keeping the bite that has always sat at the centre of her songs.
We explored that evolution in our Natalie McCool profile, which traced her path from early songwriting to the vivid world of Memory Girl. Our Memory Girl review also caught the contrast and detail that made that album land so vividly.
How Welcome To Eurotopia Changed The Scale
Natalie’s work on Welcome To Eurotopia feels important to this era. She co-curated and performed the Liverpool Eurovision Festival show with Stealing Sheep, bringing together guest vocalists, a ten-piece all-female band, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and a marching brass section.
The show put Natalie inside a much larger pop framework, with theatre, city history, orchestral force and community all feeding the same spark. Good For The Soul sounds like it carries some of that ambition back into the studio.
That wider scale also makes sense beside Natalie’s recent run. Memory Girl drew support across BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, BBC Introducing and Amazing Radio, while later singles kept that momentum moving through radio play, tastemaker attention and live work.
A Bigger Cast Around A Bolder Sound
Good For The Soul brings a major collaborative streak into focus. The album features Trans Voices, Ellysse Mason, IONE, RIIVA, Jaako, She Drew The Gun, HELLEROID, Renee Stormz, Dilettante, ilā and krapka;KOMA.
Strings from the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra also appear across several tracks. That detail gives the album real scope, especially beside Natalie’s instinct for precise, charged pop writing.
The record centres on hope, joy, adulthood and the way life shapes you through every strange turn. That sounds like rich ground for Natalie, whose songs often find light without pretending the dark was never there.
Why Good For The Soul Feels So Tempting
Natalie recorded, produced and mixed much of the album herself, with additional production and mixing from Andy Hall Hall. That hands-on role gives Good For The Soul an extra sense of authorship, especially beside its wide cast of collaborators.
With Good For The Soul, Natalie seems ready to move through bright hooks, darker textures, trippier corners and larger arrangements without losing her own voice. It feels like a record built from confidence, curiosity and a refusal to stay in one lane.
The live chapter is taking shape too, with album launch shows confirmed at The Kazimier Stockroom in Liverpool on 9th October 2026 and Sebright Arms in London on 10th October 2026.
On paper, Good For The Soul has everything I want from a Natalie McCool album: melody, nerve, Northern roots, a fearless guest list and the sense that every track could open a different door. I am already counting down.
Follow Natalie McCool on Instagram and order the physical album on Bandcamp.
Photo Credit: Robin Clewley
