Toronto musician Abigail Lapell has unveiled the music video for “Shadow Child,” featuring fellow Canadian artist Frazey Ford.
The track serves as the second single from Lapell’s upcoming album Shadow Child, due out May 8, 2026 via Outside Music.
A beautiful folk-pop tune, “Shadow Child” highlights the natural chemistry between the two artists, with their voices blending effortlessly to create a warm, intimate atmosphere that lingers long after the song ends.
About the track by Abigail:
The song’s simple, driving acoustic and baritone guitars underpin lyrics that explore the work of childbirth, both its joys and terrors.
“Shadow Child” arrives with a stop motion animation video that Lapell herself “made years ago, about a figure creating another figure out of clay,” she says. “It was shot in one ‘take’, all in camera, and filmed backwards – so that, when played in reverse, it shows the creature emerging from a formless blob.
“I recently found all my old super 8 films, and I thought this odd little black and white claymation might fit well with ‘Shadow Child’, a song about pregnancy and childbirth – creation and transformation.
“But when I actually tried pairing the two, it was crazy.
The unedited ‘backwards’ visuals fit the song exactly perfectly – like down to the second.
Complete with the final reveal of the figure’s shadow, and then my own hands in silhouette, returning it to a formless blob.
I couldn’t believe it. Even the unintended strobe effect from my camera’s ‘shutter ghosting’; it kind of reminds me of the flickering of an ultrasound.
“So this video feels like a really wild collaboration with my much younger self.
And a celebration of the oddness of “creation”, in both senses – as an artist and, now, as a mother.”
Shadow Child gets: 📷📷📷📷📷📷📷/10.
Abigail Lapell – Shadow Child (feat. Frazey Ford) [Music Video]
