Whisper Doll blossom from Brooklyn daydreams with “Bluebells”

A scent of spontaneous whimsy perfumes the ethereal track, inspired by Tagami’s recent move from a “sterile East Village apartment” into a vibrant show house, tucked inside a quiet residential pocket of South Brooklyn.

“I had this big, sunny room with vines growing over it and a very ornate, detailed wooden floor and banisters,” she says. “Everything felt imbued with the past and its previous owners… It was full of possibility.” The space encouraged her to see the good in everything, let her mind wander, and pursue new opportunities.

Whisper Doll began as a solo project when Tagami was a high schooler in Atlanta, writing songs in her bedroom in the image of Mazzy Star and The Cranberries. After moving to NYC in 2024 and releasing her first album, Perfume Garden, she rubbed elbows with her future bandmates: drummer Shawn Majeed, guitarist Maya Lagman, and bassist Julia Chrzanowski. Their next record Lucky Clover, available 2 October via Take Care Records, is the sound of a full band announcing themselves to the world with a dream pop tilt.

“We've always been a DIY show band, but I've always recorded in studios,” Tagami shares. Between VHS Studios in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and producer Oscar Compo’s bedroom studio, Whisper Doll’s acoustic demos have been transformed into a rich final product for their new record. Rather than channelling the bustling chaos of the Big Apple, cascading synths transport the listener into an optimistic, light-hearted fantasyland.

With a few years of performing and touring behind her, Tagami is eager for what this new era brings. Still, she gushes about that bedroom: “The ivy was growing over my windows, and I remember that on one of the first nights after I moved, I had a dream that the ivy came into the room through the window. That’s where I was inspired by the concept of bluebells growing through my window, encroaching on me.”

Her cat Lucky is curled beside her as she talks. “I adopted him from a bodega when I first moved to the show house,” she details. “He was given to me after I showed a lot of interest in him, and it just made me feel really lucky and hopeful. It’s what inspired this new era of choosing to be really hopeful about the world and to feel lucky as a person.”