Parissa Tosif, (pronounced pa-REE-sa toe-SIF), the Iranian-Australian vocalist, songwriter and producer, has announced her debut solo album titled I have this memory of you, independently due on March 26. Marking the occasion is her latest single, ‘River (گلریز)’. LISTEN HERE + PRE-SAVE LP HERE.

Memory has its own voice. Sometimes it hums softly in the background, like a whisper you half-remember or a melody your mother once sang. Other times, it arrives suddenly and completely, flooding you with all that was lost and all that remains. Could you form memories to a place you haven’t seen, or will ever get to physically experience?

Having never visited Iran, the spiritual inheritance of Parissa Tosif’s Iranian ancestry would become the heartbeat of her debut album. A place she has only ever known from the memories, history books and films of others, Tosif began by collecting stories from family and friends who were refugees and migrants, blending their lived experiences with her own reflections through songwriting. I have this memory of you captures Parissa’s journey to reconnect with a heritage she had only known in fragments. Inspired by stories of revolution, love, loss, and the complexities of diasporic identity, the result is a shimmering, intimate portrait of identity – gathering the threads of ancestry, migration and motherhood into her own tapestry of diaspora.

Of the album, Parissa shares “This project has made me so deeply reflect on my relationship to place. One that I will never visit, that is such a fundamental part of who I am, and how I look, and how the world interacts with me. This album is a meditation on belonging to a place I’ve never seen. The title reflects a closeness to a motherland I think I have a memory of, but then realise I don’t. A place that is mine, but isn’t. Ten songs tracing the lives and emotional inheritance passed down by friends and family willing to share their stories so I could connect to Iran, and the experiences of those who have left their homeland. Weaving in live recorded Iranian instruments, I’ve attempted to integrate Persian sounds into Western music – not perfectly, but exactly as I am, navigating this in-between space.”

Today she unveils ‘River (گلریز)’, a bucolic yet layered interpretation of aspiration and assimilation, with commentary on the cost of a life-changing decision. The third single of her forthcoming album, continues her interplay of Persian household classics to the lucid narratives and contemporary melodies of James Blake, Rosalia and Lana Del Rey.

Of ‘River (گلریز)’ Parissa continues, “When I speak to my family about identity and the motherland, I can see that it is such a complex and emotional thought to ponder for them. My grandparents fled from danger but also left behind a world of a life where they had an identity, status, community and meaning. Their resilience – and the resilience of my parents, and so many migrants, refugees astounds me. In another way, this song touches on the inequality of life’s circumstance, how fleeting it is to have means, and the reality of the ‘American dream’ that so many migrants have to face – this comes through in the chorus.”

Parissa Tosif’s introduction came with ‘I Sing For You (پروانه)‘, landing on fbi.radio’s playlist, whilst ‘Fury (نیلوفر آبی)’ streamed praise across SceneNoise, for her “deeply personal pop reflection on Iran, its revolution and its women,” alongside Scene Noise, KEXP Rotation, COLORSxSTUDIO, 10 Magazine, Ones To Watch, 95bFM and more. Produced alongside Andrew Grant with contributions from Alice Ivy and live Iranian instrumentation as the daf, tombak, and oud, I have this memory of you is set to offer a considered excavation of who and what we are.

Reflecting on her purpose throughout the process, Parissa says, “What started as something deeply personal became something I needed to share, particularly with second-generation people navigating displacement or anyone searching for meaning in their ancestry. This album is my gift to anyone on a journey through heritage, holding the question: how do we remember what we’ve never known? I hope that in my discovery, people find something that connects them to their own.”