Poppy Ackroyd returns to her roots on piano and violin with upcoming album, Liminal

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Liminal sees Ackroyd return to playing piano and violin on an album exclusively since her 2019 release Feathers, with the violin in particular being an instrument that she hasn't played extensively for several years. It follows her 2025 project "Notes on Water", a collaborative work completed during her father Norman Ackroyd’s final months, and released soon after her passing. "The Unknown" offers the first introduction to a new chapter for Ackroyd, highlighting a contrast between violin lines and the grounding piano.

Liminal, written during a period of upheaval and transition for Ackroyd, was composed during a three-month period before she recorded, produced, and mixed the collection of songs herself. It was mastered by Matouš Godík, with layout and design done by Ruth Keating.

Discussing the feelings that define the album, Ackroyd shares: “In the last three years everyone I loved most in the world needed me, all at once. There has been new life and death, heartbreak and many other things that are not my stories to tell. I have also moved across the country to a part of the world I have never lived in before.

"I had such a chaotic few years, but the only way to cope was to allow things to be messy. Embracing the messy and imperfect but still getting things done. I decided to apply this approach to my music making and I found that I still maintain the same attention to detail but without the pressure, and I fell in love with making music again in a whole new way.”