For Aly Rowell, songwriting has always been a way of making sense of the world.
The Southern California-born, San Diego-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has spent years refining her craft as a musician, producer and collaborator, but her debut solo album, Where It All Goes, marks a particularly personal chapter in her artistic journey.
Out now, the record finds Rowell turning towards the women in her family, inherited trauma and the complicated process of healing.
Rooted in indie rock, folk and pop, Where It All Goes balances intimate storytelling with expansive, carefully layered arrangements. Written during a period of personal reflection and therapy, the album explores the tension between loving a parent and recognising the experiences that have shaped you.
Rather than offering neat conclusions, Rowell embraces the contradictions, allowing vulnerability and uncertainty to sit alongside moments of clarity.
The album’s title track captures this approach. Fuzzy indie rock textures meet sweeping folk instrumentation, with layers of viola gradually building around Rowell’s soulful vocals.
As the arrangement gathers momentum, the song moves from quiet introspection towards something more emotionally charged, mirroring the weight of memories that become harder to ignore the closer we look at them.
It is a sound shaped by both personal experience and years spent working alongside other artists. Rowell’s collaborative history includes Jon Patrick Titterington of Father John Misty, Joe Vann of From Indian Lakes, Bloomsday, yeemz, Tyson Motsenbocker and The Blasting Company.
Her work has also attracted recognition from NPR’s Local Standouts, San Diego Music Makers and Troubadour Magazine.
Closing the album, ‘Time Is a Life’, featuring Julianna Zachariou, offers a quieter reflection on time, self-worth and the fear of falling behind.
Co-written by Zachariou, who also produced the record, the acoustic indie-folk track considers what it means to feel forgotten while searching for reasons to keep moving forward. Its understated arrangement leaves room for the songwriting to breathe, bringing the album to a contemplative close.
Drawing inspiration from Father John Misty, Folk Bitch Trio and Haley Heynderickx, Rowell creates music that feels both carefully constructed and deeply human.
With Where It All Goes, she transforms the complexities of family and memory into songs that resist easy answers, establishing herself as an artist unafraid to explore what healing might look like when the past remains part of the present.
Listen to the album below.
