St Catherine’s Child Merges England + Americana on ‘This Might Affect You’
Image Credit: St Catherine’s Child by Isabella Rubin-Burnett
St Catherine’s Child, aka Ilana Zsigmond, dropped her debut album This Might Affect You in June 2025. Born in England, Zsigmond spent most of her childhood in the United States. Growing up in New Haven, Connecticut, Zsigmond was raised in a deeply Americana community. While her musical parents toured, Zsigmond would jump between continents. Upon her return in 2015, she created a band and sound for St. Catherine’s Child that reflected this transatlantic upbringing.
So who is St Catherine? St Catherine of Alexandria is ‘the patron saint of eloquent women.’ She was born in Alexandria and was said to have converted many of her adversaries to Christianity through her eloquence during debates.
Zsigmond (successfully) attempts to channel her namesake through her writing. Each line feels carefully crafted, each lyric vulnerable and personal. It’s writing you can relate to as Zsigmond bears her soul to listeners.
This Might Affect You is a well-crafted album, with a sleek production done by Zsigmond herself, with David Glover and Alec Brits. Zsigmond has an impressive vocal range and a breathy yet full delivery; you're never left in doubt of her musical and lyrical abilities.
The album opens with a six-minute track titled The Stranger, steeped in a country and western sound, it presents the sonic direction that the rest of the tracks will take.
Folksy, guitar-heavy and full of abundant storytelling.
Track four, I Understand is a real tear-jerker. It’s got a softer sound, predominantly featuring an acoustic guitar, and Zsigmond singing on the higher end of her range. I Understand opens with the soft, intimate strumming of a guitar.
Her lyrics paint a vivid picture of all the reasons someone can’t stop fighting to stay around. Zsigmod’s slight vibrato as she delivers the lines accentuates the emotion present in this one. It’s soaked in American scenery and sentiment, coming to a close with soft, ethereal synths accompanying the guitar.
Leave A Light On is another great example of the emotional depths of the album and Zsigmond's songwriting capabilities. The track has a sophisticated Western sound; yet the lyrics portray a child’s fears of the dark and subsequently that child having to grow up too quickly because of their father’s ill-health.
Image Credit: Isabella Rubin- Burnett
Another standout is I’m Not Ready Yet. Another acoustic guitar track, featuring some steady percussion, expressive strings and singer-songwriter Toria Wooff. Wooff’s harmonies are divine, melding perfectly with Zsigmond’s rich voice.
The entire album is shaped around the death of Zsigmond’s father. She’s written about the grieving process on her Substack and the need to dedicate time to writing about grief.
Experiencing a loss so enormous, eclipses all else in your life.
Flipping past plans upside down, any ideas for a debut album she had prior were foreign now, and felt like songs written by somebody else.
This Might Affect You is a beautiful record, stemming not from a desire to create music but a need, and the raw lyricism and Americana sound blend to create an album that is heading for classic status.
