Sylvan Esso is a band from Durham, North Carolina. Across their career, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn have put out four acclaimed albums, been nominated for two GRAMMYs, and collaborated with a wide-ranging, eclectic community of artists including Arooj Aftab, Maggie Rogers, Tyler Childers, Reyna Tropical, Califone, and many more. “WDID” is the first new music from the band since 2022. The track, as well as its hypnotic, undulating b-side “KEEP ON,” were both born from an intense period of creation and experimentation for the band. Meath and Sanborn have spent the last year plus working on new material with a slew of new collaborators, recording in the lush woods of Chapel Hill, North Carolina with no deadline in mind. The song also marks the first time Sylvan Esso has released new music via their own record label, Psychic Hotline. “WDID” is a thorny, hammering all-caps screed; a manic thrum happening halfway between a 3am doom scroll and the dance floor. It bubbles with anxiety, the all-consuming, unending cascade of crises. The band’s off-kilter, electrified pop has always spiraled out from a main point of tension – Meath and Sanborn have long joked that Sylvan Esso’s songwriting stems from an argument, a push-and-pull of possibility. The songwriting here – and across the new music in general – is loose and vulnerable, a disparate collage scotch-taped together yielding something that is ultimately both magical and strange, a dyspneic, shadowy sound that shows the humans at the helm of Sylvan Esso with a new immediacy. “WDID” was recorded at Betty’s, Sylvan Esso’s studio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and features additional production from Jake Luppen (Hippo Campus, Samia). “KEEP ON” was built from a week of improvisation with bassist Daniel Aged (Frank Ocean, Dijon) and drummer TJ Maiani (Weyes Blood, Neneh Cherry). This limited edition 12” single features a custom die-cut jacket that can be used as a paint stencil.
