Iris Caltwait (fka iris) distils fury on timeless pop single 'Serpentine'

Norwegian alt-pop auteur Iris Caltwait today shares new single 'Serpentine' - ahead of the release of new album 'Again, for the first time' - out 7th November via 777 Music.

“A lot of the songs on the album are about trying to reconnect to the child I was and to the person I want to be," Iris Caltwait says of her new album, her first under this moniker, previously known simply as iris.

On new single 'Serpentine', Iris is learning to lose her temper again. A slice of classy, timeless pop songwriting, the song was inspired by the shocking loss of a friendship two years ago: "You stepped on my toes and I stayed quiet / As If I don’t mind it / As if I don't know that you get a kick out of seeing me cry"

She continues, "When I was little, I wasn't afraid to get angry. Now I’ve had to relearn getting mad, and reconnect with indignation. The whole experience that inspired 'Serpentine' ended up being a catalyst for a lot of feelings on this album."

Just one of several tracks on upcoming album 'Again, for the first time' that explore vulnerability without resolving it, the project documents a period of emotional disorientation - shaped by personal loss, betrayal, and a slow, unglamorous return to life.

'Serpentine' follows the release of previously released album tasters 'rodeo', 'Spring Rush (a hot platonic subatomic crush)', 'i’m in the corner, alone' and 'these are hard times (Say the Words!)' - each peeling back a new layer of the album’s emotional architecture, and revealing its sonic complexity.

The album was co-produced with Askjell (Sigrid, Aurora) and features contributions from Vetle Junker, Jimi Somewhere, Milo Orchis, Lauritz Christiansen, and more. Written across Bergen, Oslo, Copenhagen and Gothenburg - in borrowed living rooms and countryside retreats - the record mirrors the fragility of its themes. Home recordings and field samples (including the voice of her late grandmother in 'PINHOLE') collapse the distance between memory and art.

On Again, for the first time - Iris Caltwait (real name Vilde Iris Hartveit Kolltveit) favours emotional nuance over dramatic flourish. Taking cues from artists like Mitski, Adrienne Lenker, and Saya Gray, she crafts songs that don’t seek resolution, but coherence - music for the moments that resist definition.

Across its 16 tracks, she moves between grief and dry humour, nostalgia and defiance, collapse and clarity - without rushing to a conclusion. Production shifts mid-song, voice memos interrupt melody, emotional outbursts arrive unannounced.

“Every beautiful thing felt too big to hold,” she explains. “I started wondering if maybe we’re not built to endure all this. That being alive is both a horror and a gift. This album is me trying to understand that.”

Previously releasing under a different moniker, Iris Caltwait's re-emergence is not a reinvention, but a reclamation - of her voice, and of herself. This is music for the in-between: the quiet reckoning that follows rupture, the spring that arrives too brightly after a long emotional winter. It’s not about resolution, but resilience. Not about arriving, but returning, again, for the first time.

Iris Caltwait’s new album 'Again, for the first time' is out 7th November via 777 Music - available to pre-order on 12" vinyl here. New single ‘Serpentine’ is out now.