The Predatory Wasp
I CANNOT STOP listening to this track. Song of the year. Apparently it came out about a year ago, but I only just heard it as the second track on james k’s new album Friend. I love it so much!
The Nashville-based dream-folk artist on transportive power of a Bob Dylan live performance
The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!
Marissa Nadler has been quietly reshaping the edges of folk for more than two decades. Her records linger in that space between dream and memory, carried by a voice that feels both fragile and unshakable. Across nine albums, she’s built a body of work that blends spectral storytelling with a painter’s eye for detail, often shifting between stark acoustic pieces and more expansive, layered arrangements.
Her new album, New Radiations, continues that trajectory with a subtle but noticeable shift. The songs carry her usual haunted grace, but there’s a warmth that feels new: textures of synth and soft percussion woven around her fingerpicked guitar. The record holds to her talent for atmosphere while suggesting a degree of light breaking through the familiar shadows.
For her One Track Mind selection, Marissa has chosen to highlight a live version of a song from a folk legend.
I’ve written about Avi C. Engel’s music a few times before on TPW and their music always stops me in my tracks. Nyx is the opening track from their latest album, Mote on the UK label Fenny Compton – an 8-track collection based around voice and acoustic guitar – and is as haunting and evocative a slice of alternative folk as you’re likely to hear this year.
Announced alongside a new album, Don’t Trust Mirrors due in October, Kelly Moran’s Echo in the Field pairs prepared piano with synths and strings, creating a piece that shifts between delicacy and propulsion. The accompanying video, directed by Katharine Antoun, places Moran herself at the centre. Speaking about the decision, she said: “Few things in this world terrify me more than the idea of me dancing in a music video. I wanted to address that fear head on because this is the first track I’ve written that makes me want to get up to dance, headbang, and generally lose my shit.”
Ludicrous amounts of interesting music released today including albums from Blood Orange, Steve Gunn, Tei Shi, Jehnny Beth and others (posts to follow) but this definitely stood out from Che Noir’s latest album No Validation.
Every Mariah the Scientist album so far has included a track that’s reduced me to a helpless mess: All For Me from RY RY WORLD and Reminders from MASTER, so anticipation was high for her latest, HEARTS SOLD SEPARATELY. Sure enough she’s done it again, this time with the Kali Uchis collab Is It a Crime made with producers Mat1k, Oliver Easton, and Nineteen85, the latter of whom is part of the duo Dvsn with which this track shares notable similarities. It’s so good!
Danny L Harle is a man of many talents; from working with Charli XCX and Caroline Polachek to producing perhaps of the greatest modern odes to hardcore to his latest project Starlight Divergence a haunting ambient LP producer in collaboration with Dutch producer Torus. Years ago when I worked at a house music record label in London, people lol’d at me constantly for my love of trance. Well who’s laughing now, you pricks?? Trance is back baby; in myriad, evocative, interesting forms, and you’re saying the poster boy for house is this guy?
‘Change into One Another’ is a collaborative single by two of my favourite alt-pop artists, Discovery Zone and John Moods. The two share a long creative history, from playing together in the band Fenster to being partners in life. The track was written while they were parting ways, and both the song and its video explore how love changes us, and what follows in its aftermath.
https://mansionsandmillions.bandcamp.com/track/change-into-one-another-2
I’m going to Simple Things Festival in a few months, so have been doing the usual things of obsessively listening to every single artist billed. This includes The Orielles; a band whose name I recognise but have never previously listened to. Taken from their 2022 album album Tableau, The Improvision 001 is utterly brilliant, almost unclassifiable and has been on constant repeat for the last few days. And yes, I appreciate this came out several years ago, but also: the past is a largely safe and friendly place that I enjoy exploring.
Sultry, low-key r&b for you today from French-born, London-based singer-songwriter and producer Léa Sen who first came to prominence with a breathy, resonant vocal on Joy Orbison’s Better in 2021, quickly followed by collaborations with Sampha, Oscar Jerome, Wu‑Lu, and Vegyn. This is taken from her debut LP LEVELS which was co-produced with her brother Florian, with each track representing a different floor in a liminal hotel of memory and growth.
The Predatory Wasp 