Gretta Seabird is the project of Brooklyn-based Jeremiah Brunnhoelzl and Portland, Oregon-based Lee McDonnell in Portland, OR, who began their musical collaboration by sending songwriting challenges to each other, resulting in the their upcoming debut EP Cycling.

They had originally met in Portland’s independent music scene and they maintained a friendship over the years. The pandemic years, however, brought about a transitional period for both artists when Brunnhoelzl relocated to Brooklyn, NY, while McDonnell battled vocal challenges that led to the loss of her singing voice for over a year.

McDonnell says:

Losing my singing voice was absolutely frightening and I felt like I was losing my identity. I felt like this EP was a revisit to getting back into music and falling in love with the processes and production.

The EP’s latest single, “Here“, moves “through the minds of two strangers with a missed connection.”

The title track of the EP “captures the disbelief that McDonnell felt while staring at a long awaited, positive pregnancy test.” This takes on a “heartbreaking depth when paired with the song’s partner track,” “Goodbye for Now,” through which McDonnell processed her miscarriage, just two weeks later.

McDonnell shares:

Even though it was a difficult experience, music has pulled me through in ways I could not with just talking. I felt like, if I died then I would be happy because I made this song. It just feels right in some completing way for me.