The Lebanese artist on the haunting quality of a Fennesz 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!
Lebanese musician, performer, visual artist and composer Charbel Haber has spent more than two decades at the forefront of Beirut’s experimental music community. Whether composing for multidisciplinary projects or developing his own solo material, Haber has built a reputation for creating immersive, emotionally resonant works.
His latest album, May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable, was written following his move from Beirut to Paris and reflects on themes of distance, exile, mortality and the search for tenderness amid uncertainty. Recorded in Paris and completed through collaborations spanning Beirut and Montreal, the album unfolds through slowly evolving compositions built from layered guitars, loops and electronic textures.
For his One Track Mind, Haber has chosen a haunting track from Fennesz’s 2004 album Venice.
Charbel Haber on Fennesz – Transit feat. David Sylvian
The track I pick would be Transit from Christian Fennesz’ record Venice, with David Sylvian singing. That track haunts me since I discovered it more than 20 years ago. It’s a traveller’s song.
The loneliness of Europe’s airports when I’m on tour, the acceptance of the idea that we die alone and the cigarette that is kept for last. The melancholy reflected by sylvian’s voice and fennesz’s glitches, the last human talking to the last machine, in conversation about the end of mankind caused by alienation and digital isolation. The fall of empires but not in a blaze, just out of boredom and detachment from each other. It reminds me a lot of Paul Auster’s novel In The Country of Last Things.
This track is best when walking in the quiet Venetian streets, away from the tourists, feeling like the last of your kind, on your last stroll through the ruins of civilization.
Chabel Haber – May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable is out now
The Lithuanian ambient and electronic artist on the sacred power of a decades old Burial cut.
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!
Lithuanian producer Teatre has spent the last few years building a distinct corner of experimental electronic music that moves between ambient, wave, techno and more abstract forms. The project of Viktoras Urbaitis, his work has gradually shifted from the colder, urban feel of earlier releases into something softer and more reflective, while remaining rooted in Lithuania’s experimental scene.
His new album, All Constellations Weaving Into One, arrives via Amulet of Tears and feels intensely intimate. Written chronologically between September and November 2025 following a period of creative stillness, the record unfolds like a personal sketchbook, built from hazy synth textures, 90s sample fragments and field recordings captured around Vilnius’ Antakalnis district.
There are traces of Cocteau Twins, Vangelis and Grouper throughout, though the album never feels pinned to any one influence. Guest appearances from Ieva Semėnaitė and Eglė Pundzevičiūtė add another layer to its dreamlike atmosphere, particularly on the beautifully blurred “Perseide” and “Sapiegų Park”.
For his One Track Mind, Teatre has selected a painfully beautiful track from one of the most celebrated and influential artists of modern times.
Teatre on Burial – Forgive
It wasn’t easy to pick one track to write about – there are so many songs all across the spectrum from shoegaze to singer-songwriter to electronic (especially ones with lyrics) that I’m really connected to. But coincidence would have it that a few days ago – May 15th – was the 20th anniversary of Burial’s self-titled album debut, so I decided to pen a short tribute to one of my all-time favourite artists.
When people talk about Burial, it’s usually about common themes: dark, skeletal beats, haunting urban atmospheres, unorthodox sampling, all of which, of course, he does with superb mastery. But that still underrates his work. I think that what he did was unprecedented in the field of electronic music and in the realm of art in general. Burial creates narratives about memory, loss, transcendence & love woven from countless forms of media, culture, and environment. The experience of a Burial track is an emotional dive into the postmodern sound of the 21st century. Every digital transmission, every nostalgic beat becomes something personal: alarms on the street punctuate feeling states, fragmented vocal echoes reflect inner dialogues. This principally anonymous non-musician from London changed what recording artists can be, and I still think that few have come close.
Before he wrote novels in tracks on 2013’s “Rival Dealer”, before the anthemic stories of “Untrue”, there was the poem “Forgive” on his debut album. In my opinion it’s a perfect example of Burial’s singular sensitivity – creating an entire world from just a couple seconds of spliced audio. I never knew where the sounds were from, or what they’re supposed to be (though I may have read that one of the samples is from Brian Eno), and I still don’t know what the words are saying. I don’t think such work should be rationally or technically disseminated. To me this plays beyond words, like feelings clenching one’s throat, an endless thread of time & emotion unraveling.
I started really getting into alternative and electronic music around the time I was 15, when I moved from my hometown. The music of Burial had already been around, but for me discovering it was something otherworldly. At the same time, I immediately felt that it was something true to me, like it spoke about something that I was living through. I would be listening to the S/T and Untrue on loop, just walking around this new city that I knew nothing about, mostly isolated and terrified, with only these digital airwaves in my ears that seemed to know something real about me. I remember clearly observing at that time that this was music that spoke so much without words, something that I wanted to create.
“Forgive” wasn’t playing on repeat, it was for moments, sometimes years in between. I don’t remember most of them, but I can picture certain days, places, periods of time, series of events, people. The feeling doesn’t go away. It brings up something that was just a speck of dust in my memory, and it whirls into a hurricane. Sometimes I don’t even know what it is, the song just pulls it out. For me it’s not a song to put in a playlist, more like something sacred. There’s a video still online from 16 years ago where this track plays for a murmuration of birds across a clouded highway, it still really moves me.
Teatre – All Constellations Weaving Into One is out now on Amulet of Tears
The Formant Soundsystem founder on a track that challenged everything he thought about music and its creation
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!
Grady Steele is producer, DJ and co-founder of the Formant Soundsystem, the travelling rig and party series that has become a fixture within more adventurous corners of London and Paris nightlife. Through Formant, Steele has spent years championing experimental electronics, dub-influenced sounds and forward-facing club music, helping cultivate spaces that sit somewhere between sound system culture, ambient listening and leftfield dance music. Alongside this, he began putting out his own productions through releases on Archaic Vaults in 2024, revealing a distinctly intimate approach that leans toward warmth, texture and emotional weight.
That sensibility carries through into Nausea, his new seven-track album for FELT. Built around themes of memory, emotional residue and post-rave introspection, the record unfolds through slow-moving melodic passages, field recordings and live instrumentation.
For his One Track Mind, Grady has selected a track from revered experimental music producer Sd Laika.
Grady Steele on Sd Laika – Peace
I found this question incredibly difficult as there’s so much music I love. There have been so many musical moments of discovery throughout my life that have directly influenced not only the way I think about music but also how I carry myself as a person and connect with the surrounding world, from the harmonic pushing and pulling of Maurice Ravel, to the lyricism and unquantifiable bass weight of Yabby You, to the call-and-response rhythms and immersive world-building of Source Direct.
I’ve chosen ‘Peace’ by Sd Laika because it challenged almost everything I previously thought about music and its creation. I was still holding onto the premise that melody, harmony and rhythm were the three fundamentals in any kind of music; without these, it would move out of music territory and into the realm of sound art and/or field recording. Sd Laika showed me that you can deconstruct these three pillars and still embody the essence of music. I realised you can have an incredibly moving motif that doesn’t consist of any melody but exclusively of texture, it can still carry the same functional weight and be equally emotive, if not more so, in the right context. Previously, I understood the importance of timbre and tonality, but Laika pushed this to a whole other level, where they didn’t need to be supporting actors but could be concerto soloists amongst the many moving parts behind them.
The reason I chose ‘Peace’ is because it’s the first track on the album and the beginning of this discovery; if the question were the album rather than the song, then I would have put the whole thing. To me, it sounds like music trying to escape itself, some sort of sonic dysphoria, morphing and mutating, not allowing itself to be defined or controlled by tempo or genre; it doesn’t sound like MIDI in a DAW, but a living organism escaping the bounds of theory and what music is understood to be. I have endless gratitude I wish I could express to Laika, and I truly wish he has found Peace.
The American experimental musician on a song full of spiritual intensity.
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!
Earlier this year, Maria BC released their third album Marathon, their second for the fantastically consistent indie label Sacred Bones. It follows previous LPs Hyaline and Spike Field from 2023, both which I love and still go back to regularly.
This time around, the focus is more on songwriting, with Maria BC reporting they spent less time on production and more on lyrics and structure. The result is a more concise and varied record across its thirteen tracks. Marathon was written and recorded across the West Coast, and it covers themes like endurance, survival, environmental issues and personal disruption. The sound moves between acoustic tracks and more distorted, glitchy material, but keeps a consistent thread throughout.
For their One Track Mind, Maria BC has selected a heartbreakingly beautiful song from Scotland-born, Copenhagen-based artist Clarissa Connelly.
Maria BC on Clarissa Connelly – Life of the Forbidden
“I’ve been listening to this song in my car a lot. It’s a song that agitates buried feelings. I love Clarissa Connelly’s voice, how she switches from a hushed, timid delivery to a full shouting belt. She doesn’t shy away from spiritual intensity. That’s what I love about her music. It’s unrestrained, unafraid of its own strength.
“She’s said in interviews that, while she was at conservatory, she became enthralled with overtones and spent much of her time crafting warbling, bent sounds from the colliding high frequencies of piano and string instruments. The way her music is mixed makes it clear that she likes to dwell in the high end, so to speak. I normally find myself feeling closed off to music that sounds “sparkly,” but in this case, I love it. It’s not bright solely for the sake of clarity or perceived loudness – the arrangement and the mix work together to create a feeling of upward motion, like a fountain. The whole song sounds like it’s being delivered to the sky, an entreaty to God.
“And it’s true the lyrics are a prayer, though a prayer riven with rage and doubt – she grieves a world of suffering, a world in which some are forced to wait for solace in death: “Are you crucified? Are you forgiven? / Have you lived a life of the forbidden?” It’s hard to write a more crushing refrain than that.”
The Canadian singer-songwriter on the spooky atmospherics of a song from a cult horror 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!
Ora Cogan is a Canadian singer-songwriter whose work sits somewhere between folk, slowcore and dreamlike indie. Her records are sparse and carefully arranged, often built around voice, guitar and a restrained sense of atmosphere. There’s a cinematic quality to her writing, with themes of isolation, faith and memory running through much of her catalogue.
Written in the quiet, slightly uncanny surroundings of Nanaimo, B.C., her new album Hard Hearted Woman took shape through a loose, lived-in rhythm of cold-water plunges, long river swims, late-night conversations on art and politics, and drives through the Lillooet landscape to visit her godmother.
Her debut for Sacred Bones, the record carries that atmosphere with it. Drawing on haunted folk, psych rock and a shadowed edge of country, Cogan sketches out something immersive but controlled, where release feels textured, elusive and necessary.
For her One Track Mind, Ora has picked out a haunting song from perhaps the definitive British folk-horror movie.
Ora Cogan on Magnet – Willow’s Song from The Wicker Man
“The Wicker Man is one of my all time favourite films. It felt close to home as I grew up on a small island with a lot of wild weirdos. I watched this film at a formative age and the very immersive storytelling of this masterpiece has stayed strong in my imagination ever since.
“What an epic pagan love song. Sooo spooky and dreamy. While I’m writing songs I imagine I’m writing them to score films. I love the way a song can evoke a whole realm you could get lost into.”
Ora Cogan – Heart Hearted Woman is out now on Sacred Bones
The ambient artist on the arresting simplicity of a song by Myriam Gendron
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!
Brad Deschamps, recording as anthéne, is a Canadian ambient composer whose work leans into stillness, tone and emotional weight. His music draws on soft drones, field recordings and minimal melodic fragments to build pieces that feel immersive without becoming overworked, with releases across labels such as Home Normal, Whitelabrecs and Past Inside the Present.
His latest release is a collaborative album with Alessio Bertuzzi aka Far Away Nebraska, great plains, which leans heavily into the ‘country ambient’ aesthetic, and has been a daily source of morning calm for me over the past several weeks.
For his One Track Mind, Brad has picked out a deeply meditative song from a celebrated Canadian musician and songwriter.
anthéne on Myriam Gendron – Solace
“Though I’m constantly seeking out and listening to new music, when I think of the last decade or so there are a few artists that really stick out as being extremely important to me. Myriam Gendron is one of them. Her discography is all so amazing, but this song “Solace” from Not So Deep As a Well is one that I return to very often. The guitar playing bares a passing similarity to another song I almost chose for this, “Sleepwalker” by Julie Byrne, (another one of those artists whose work I’ve spent a lot of time with in the last 10 years or so).
“The combination of her beautiful guitar playing and the words of Dorothy Parker is really arresting, and it’s also just a very novel idea to set Dorothy’s poetry to music. To me the song/poem seems to be about grief, letting yourself feel sadness and not trying to hastily move on:
There was a rose that faded young; I saw its shattered beauty hung Upon a broken stem. I heard them say, “What need to care With roses budding everywhere?” I did not answer them.
There was a bird, brought down to die; They said, “A hundred fill the sky- What reason to be sad?” There was a girl, whose lover fled; I did not wait, the while they said, “There’s many another lad.”
“Having seen her perform live a few times, her music on record and in person feels very warm and inviting despite being so minimal and somewhat somber, and I take great comfort in it. Perhaps most inspiring is this song is from Myriam’s first album, recorded alone in her apartment with no prior knowledge of sound engineering, and to have composed and recorded something this beautiful is really something.”
anthéne & Far Away Nebraska – great plains is out now on Home Normal
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Predatory Wasp 