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One Track Mind: Marissa Nadler

Photo credit: Ebru Yildiz

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.

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One Track Mind: Puma Blue

The Atlanta-based artist on the overwhelming emotion of a seminal 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!

Emerging from London’s DIY scene, Puma Blue’s early work stitched together smoky jazz, lo-fi R&B, and dreamlike alt-pop, earning comparisons to King Krule and Jeff Buckley. His 2021 debut In Praise of Shadows was a nocturnal fever dream of hushed falsettos and submerged drums, but with his latest LP antichamber, he takes an even starker approach – paring everything down to its barest, most vulnerable form.

Recorded alone in a house in Decatur, Georgia, antichamber is a ghostly exhale of a record, a collection of hushed confessions and vaporous melodies that feel like they might dissolve if you listen too hard. The sultry groove of his past work is gone, replaced by something even more fragile – just an acoustic guitar, some distant echoes, and a voice that sounds like it’s whispering secrets into the void.

For his One Track Mind selection, Puma Blue breaks the rules and picks a deeply affecting live performance of two songs from a jazz legend.

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One Track Mind: Anna Erhard

The Berlin-based artist on a song that inspires her to let go

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!

Anna Erhard’s music exists in that hazy space between indie rock and offbeat pop, where dry wit and deadpan delivery meet angular guitars and restless beats. Originally from Switzerland, now based in Berlin, she first caught attention with Basel’s folk-leaning Serafyn before stepping out solo, swapping acoustic delicacy for something more unpredictable.

Her latest album, Botanical Garden, is a further evolution of her idiosyncratic sound—more wired, more playful, with Anna turning mundane observations into strangely addictive earworms. The title hints at something lush, but Erhard’s garden is full of overgrown thoughts and half-remembered conversations, set to clattering rhythms and sun-faded synths. Tracks like “Horoscope” and “Teenage Earworm” toy with nostalgia but refuse to settle into it, while “170” turns a casual argument over someone’s height into a hook-laden, side-eyed anthem.

For her One Track Mind selection, Anna has picked out a song the humor and charm of which is reflected in much of her own work.

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One Track Mind: Ludvig Cimbrelius

The prolific, multi-aliased producer on life-changing impact of a song by Yumi Arai

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!

Ludvig Cimbrelius is a versatile Swedish musician known for his expansive and emotive soundscapes across a wide range of aliases, each reflecting a unique aspect of his artistic vision. Perhaps his best-known alias, Purl, focusses on music that evokes the serenity of nature, while Illuvia explores ambient jungle and drum & bass realms. Eternell delves into meditative and ethereal compositions, and Abraço de Vapor delves into deep, immersive soundscapes. Other aliases include Alveol, Ziyal, and Surr, showcasing his wide-ranging talent across ambient, electronic, and cinematic music​.

Released back in June, his latest album as Illuvia Earth Prism is a masterpiece, and one of my favourite LPs of the year so far; an escapist joy with atmospheric pads and lush melodies combined with lo-fi drums filtered almost out of existence. Ideal listening for anyone who misses the glory days of ‘intelligent’ drum and bass but doesn’t have the energy to go out raving anymore.

For his One Track Mind selection, Ludvig has picked out supremely joyful track that never fails to bring him to tears.

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One Track Mind: Laryssa Kim

The Italian-Congolese artist on the overwhelming melancholy of Silver Mt. Zion’s best-known work

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!

Laryssa Kim is an Italo-Congolese singer and composer based in Brussels whose latest album Contezza came out last month. Merging the experimental spirit of Acousmatics with soulful global influences, Kim’s music invites listeners into a dreamlike state, blending ghostly vocal fragments with electrifying riffs and natural sounds.

Contezza, meaning consciousness in ancient Italian, reflects Kim’s inner voyage during the solitude of the 2020 pandemic. Influenced by meditation, esotericism, and a diverse array of cultural artifacts, Kim explores themes of love, introspection, and the complexity of human emotion. The album serves as a magical ritual, an exorcism of beauty against personal demons. With influences ranging from Brian Eno to Erykah Badu, Contezza is a testament to Kim’s innovative approach to music and her profound engagement with the world’s infinite details.

For her One Track Mind selection, Laryssa has highlighted a deeply melancholy song, discovered during a period of mourning after losing a friend.

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One Track Mind: Freak Heat Waves

The Canadian duo’s Steve Lind on the inspirational merits of an r&b icon

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!

For more than a decade, Freak Heat Waves have been steadily amassing a cult following and earning acclaim from both critics and underground aficionados alike. Their music is a heady cocktail that defies easy categorization, blending elements of post-punk, psych, dub, ambient, house, and techno. Their eclectic sound has served as the soundtrack to countless DIY punk shows, outsider galleries and sleazy discos, establishing the duo as iconoclasts with a reputation for ignoring expectations and subverting genre conventions.

Their latest album Mondo Tempo exists in a hazy space between all these genres. Lead by Lind’s purringly nonchalant vocals, all the tracks on Mondo Tempo are various shades of “extremely chill”. From the barely-there, Nightmares on Wax-evoking Altered States to the spacious, breezy melodies of Cindy collab In a Moment Divine it’s one to be savoured, preferably while poolside somewhere exotic.

For their One Track Mind selection, Freak Heat Waves Steve Lind has dived back into the movie vaults to the soundtrack of a nearly 80 year old noir classic.

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One Track Mind: Avi C. Engel

The Toronto-based artist on the spellbinding power of a 70-year-old composition.

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!

Formerly known as Clara Engel, Avi C. Engel is a prolific and multi-faceted Toronto-based artist whose music has been described as “folk noir,” and “minimalist holy blues from another galaxy.” Their influences span genres and media, amongst them Vasko Popa, Virginia Woolf, Theodore Roethke, Jim Jarmusch, Arvo Part, Robert Johnson, Gillian Welch, and Jacques Brel. In their own words, “I’m not writing the same song over and over so much as writing one long continuous song that will end when I die”, which is about as beautifully bleak a statement as I can imagine.

Their latest album Sanguinaria marries equally poetic lyrics with sparse instrumentation, building atmospheres that move beyond ‘haunting’ into territory that is almost unbearably raw and unsettling, but with a lightness of touch and attention to detail that draws you in completely.

For their One Track Mind selection, Avi has dived back into the movie vaults to the soundtrack of a nearly 80 year old noir classic.

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One Track Mind: Cloth

The Glasgow-based band’s Paul Swinton on discovering a track that sparked a life-long obsession

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!

Cloth are a Glasgow two-piece comprising twins Rachael and Paul Swinton, who combine alt-rock with electronically enhanced production with extremely enjoyable results.

While their self-titled debut album was shortlisted for the 2020 SAY Award and enjoyed committed support from various 6 Music DJs, their second album Secret Measure – released in May on Mogwai’s Rock Action Records – seems to already be breaking through in a more significant fashion. Presenting a wider, more cinematic sound and arguably more emotionally resonant than their debut, it’s been reviewed very positively pretty much across the board, and quite rightly so.

For their One Track Mind selection, Paul Swinton talks about the lasting impact of a charity shop find.

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One Track Mind: Spencer Doran

Spencer Doran takes us back in time with his appreciation of an “outsider’ Renaissance composer

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!

Described by Bandcamp Daily as “Video Game Music’s Most Valuable Outsider”, Spencer Doran is a composer, producer and contemporary sound designer who makes up one half of the Portland duo and Italian minimalism enthusiasts Visible Cloaks.

Composed and produced over the course of nearly three years, his latest solo album is the original soundtrack for SEASON: A letter to the future, which underpins the highly-anticipated meditative exploration game in which the main character must save memories of a civilization on the verge of collapse. A lush collection of transmissions from this warmly fading world, we hear a culture and ecology through the sentimental ear of their last witness.

For his One Track Mind selection, Spencer has picked an entire album from Tobias Hume, focussing on a particular performance from Jordi Savall.

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One Track Mind: This Is The Kit

Kate Stables on the prismic, reflective qualities of a Paul Simon classic

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!

This Is The Kit is the alias of English musician Kate Stables. Established in 2003, she released her first album Krülle Bol in 2008 and has over four subsequent albums – the latest of which was 2020’s Off Off On for Rough Trade – established a sound deeply rooted in the folk traditions of storytelling, with songs evoking an earthy, tactile sense of time and place one moment and ethereal, dream-like atmospheres the next.

Recently she announced her new album, Careful of your Keepers, due for release 09 June along with the lead single Inside Outside which you can listen to below.

For her One Track Mind selection, Kate has penned some typically poetic words about a favourite track from Paul Simon’s seminal album Graceland.

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