Few artists embody boundless creativity quite like Lindsey Stirling. Not only a multi-award-winning musician known for her genre-bending virtuosity on electronic violin, she’s endlessly dazzled audiences with her extraordinary talents as a dancer—an element she brings to the stage as part of her spectacular live show, touring with a stunning frequency and continually selling out iconic venues all around the world. Also, a New York Times bestselling author (and creator of her own comic book), the platinum-selling star felt compelled to push her boundaries even further for her seventh full-length effort, ultimately embracing a whole new level of freedom in her songwriting. A visionary meditation on inner wisdom, personal strength, and the ever-shifting nature of identity, Duality arrives as Stirling’s most sonically daring and emotionally complex album date.

Made with producers/co-writers like Graham Muron (Thirty Seconds to Mars, Skrillex) and Lucky West (Walk the Moon, Dreamers), Duality encompasses a dozen songs showcasing Stirling’s refined musicality and gift for sculpting deeply expressive melodies. But while the album’s first half centers on a grandiose and elaborately composed sound informed by Celtic music and other global influences, its latter half leans toward a boldly original form of left-of-center pop. To that end, side A includes such tracks as “Eye Of The Untold Her,” a gloriously epic piece produced by Mako (a musician/songwriter/producer whose credits include co-producing top-selling releases from video-game giant Riot Games) and co-written with Steve Mazzaro (a composer who’s worked with the legendary Hans Zimmer to arrange and produce the music for the Oscar winner’s world tours). Meanwhile, side B spotlights Stirling’s pop sensibilities on songs like the luminous “Inner Gold” (featuring alt-pop artist Royal & the Serpent) and “Survive” (on which Walk off the Earth vocalist Sarah Blackwood joins in for an interpolation of Gloria Gaynor’s disco classic “I Will Survive”).

A profoundly imaginative songwriter whose past work includes such high-concept albums as 2019’s Artemis—a No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart—Stirling makes brilliant use of Duality’s extravagant soundscape by exploring intricate questions of intuition and truth. “I’ve always felt that we’re all magical beings with so much spirit and potential, but we live in a world of expectations and rules that often makes us feel so constrained,” Stirling says. “I hope that in some way these songs help people to feel free and empowered and more connected to their truest selves. I’d love to remind everyone that even though the world tries to tame us, that magic is always there within you.”