"...her latest album is brimming with carefully crafted songs, carried by her clear vocals and well thought out lyrics, something that has always been essential for singer-songwriters. Detailed and uncluttered arrangements also work in Jarvie's favour here, making her another singer-songwriter to watch out for..."
— Arvin Kashyap, Editor, The Spill Magazine
Suzanne Jarvie has conjured up something atypical — bold, mysterious, life-affirming and rich in deep symbolism on her powerful new album "mother's day", due for release February 20, 2026 via Wolfe Island Records, North America, and May 15, 2026 via Continental Record Services (CRS) Europe. A singer songwriter, folk and Americana artist, Jarvie is not limited to these niches, as she delves headstrong into the mystical and the subconscious dream-like terrain that often strikes fear and hesitation in most. Musically, her voice captivates in the dark, mesmerizing way that PJ Harvey, Joni Mitchell or Patti Smith strike a chord in uncharted areas of the listener's awareness.
"With mother's day, I seem to advance and fall back all at once. There is no resolution save acceptance. But there's no trying with acceptance, only total surrender, which feels like an inevitable energetic conclusion. I fought it forever but am getting there now. My grieving had its own order. This last phase of songwriting has happened amidst anger and depression, co-mingled. So there's rage on this album along with devotion and release."
Born of tragedy and loss, Suzanne's story involves grieving in motherhood toward acceptance of multiple co-existing realities that will never resolve. Although there is acceptance, belief and fearless forward movement, there is also realism and acknowledgement of the powerless and complete chaos we often face. From confounding trauma to deep bonds with humanity, esoteric, bravely personal levels of lyricism, frightening mythology, death, true hope...and of course, black rabbits, this is an album like no other.
"mother's day" is the sound of a woman who has moved through purgatory with real stories to tell. Suzanne both confronts the reaper while raging at male violence towards our Earth Mother, when all she needs to do is exhale and they will scatter, then be silent.
Five of the album's nine tracks were composed on piano, showcasing Jarvie's classical training. Songs like "Honeycomb" explore fear's impact on the imagination, while "Caterpillar" deals with the despair of watching a loved one self-destruct. Other tracks, such as "Polonium," draw on historical events like the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko, while "40%" speaks to the struggles of parents with children facing substance use disorders. The title track critiques power dynamics between men, women, and nature, suggesting that society has forgotten its delicate balance with the Earth.
The album also touches on personal loss, with songs like "Charity" highlighting the importance of living fully despite suffering, and "Nicole" reflecting on the enduring presence of the dead. "Lifeline," a love song written by David Corley, provides a rare exploration of romantic love for Jarvie. Finally, "Temporary Emissary" serves as a life review and tribute to her daughter Claire.
Suzanne Jarvie expands on some more of this releases over-arching themes. "Hope was just a word when I was young. Now it's like a vital organ, I don't know how anyone lives without it. These songs are for recovery and comfort. It was comforting to write them and I hope others find comfort there.
I am also so excited not only to have my older daughter Sara Jarvie Clark singing back up vocals with me again (on polonium, 40%, charity) but also my younger daughter Claire who has a fantastic voice singing with me for the first time – all back up vocals on honeycomb, the opening track.
Finally, when you see the album art you might wonder about it. It’s partly about rabbits being my favorite animals and Watership Down being the book I read and listened to repeatedly while I was recording mother’s day. The reaper is in the tree but in the lower left corner is the Black Rabbit of Inle, the angel of death. in one of the rabbit, mythology stories within the story, the great prince of rabbits, El-ahrairah visits the black rabbit's domain to bargain for the lives of his people Here's what I put in my liner notes:
“About the rabbits. First, thanks to Kima, for drawing so brilliantly what was in my mind and introducing me to Peter Capaldi’s definitive reading of Watership Down, which kept me going on many long drives through the last 18 months of making this record. Prey animals, silent creatures of fertility and survival. What is the difference between the warren and the womb? The earth is a womb and I am the earth. I am making life, in a fury. Who dares to come and destroy what I have made? When the people of Watership Down finally crush General Woundwort, they enter the days of peace in their new home, mate, have kittens and gather to tell stories in the Honeycomb. Frith and Inle I should be so lucky!”
The cover art for Mother's Day, conceived by Suzanne Jarvie, and brought to life by Canadian artist Kima Lenaghan, is an ink drawing, beautiful and horrifying. Styled like an 18th-century engraving, it depicts Jarvie in a forest clearing, holding a baby, surrounded by her four children. Jarvie and her daughters, gaze haunted and resolutely at the viewer. The boys are turned away. The forest is populated with rabbits, evoking Watership down, and its themes of predation, survival, transformation, and renewal.
mother's day is a record for anyone who has ever been broken and found that brokenness can lead to a more honest, hopeful, liberated self.
As the introduction of "mother's day" continues, Suzanne has unveiled a singularly stunning meditation on the fragile and sacred aspects of life with the "Caterpillar" music video. "Caterpillar" features awe-inspiring footage from "Becoming", by Dutch nature and science filmmaker Jan van Ijken delicately edited for musical synchronicity by Antonia LaMantia.
"The film is saturated with the divine feminine, but more simply I was transfixed by 5 straight minutes of observing genesis, creation, life, twitching, dancing, contained, then bursting out. I think we should pay attention. At one point the embryo looks human. Caterpillar is a lullaby lament I wrote for my boy, how I tried to save him...because I made him inside me, but he's not mine to save. He has to save himself. Despite this, we blame ourselves. The video celebrates this tiny thing, a newt, simultaneously one little life and all life. Small is an illusion. When you watch that process, the divine itself is at work."
