Pickle Darling releases new EP on Father/Daughter Records, ft a collab with Anna McClellan
New EP from the New Zealand-based artist
FFO: The Microphones, Sufjan Stevens, The Magnetic Fields, WHY?, Advance Base
Pickle Darling
Shares new crumple zones EP
Out today via Father/Daughter Records
Listen to lead single "massive everything (alternate version)"
Includes new Anna McClellan collaboration "pinwheels"
+ alternate versions of recent Bots album
On the tail of the release of their fourth album, Bots, New Zealand’s Pickle Darling reemerges with crumple zones, a companion EP that reimagines and expands upon the sonic world of Bots. While Bots was meticulously assembled, this new collection embraces a more immediate, live-inspired energy, offering alternate takes, acoustic reinterpretations, and a collaboration with Father/Daughter labelmate, Anna McClellan.
“massive everything (alternate version)” explores the ways we protect ourselves utilizing our emotional crumple zones. “The original version of the song is much more synthetic, but I recently discovered Nashville guitar tuning and was playing everything with that tuning. I wanted a lush, guitar filled version of this song to exist in the world too” shares Mayo. Delicate finger picking carries “human bean (alternate version),” a cute, stripped down rendition of the original. “pinwheels (featuring Anna McClellan)” is a long-awaited collaboration brought to life in a delightfully messy, acoustic-first approach. Anna’s vocals were recorded casually on a phone, background sounds intact, evoking a sense of immediacy and nostalgia, the kind of small, carb-filled comforts that define personal memory.
The EP also plays with the visual side of music-making: artwork inspired by layered woodcut prints explores alternative colors and textures, mirroring the experimental spirit of the songs themselves. Pickle Darling approaches this project as a weekend workshop rather than a full-length album’s labor, letting the process be playful, expansive, and free from pressure.
Pickle Darling - "Massive Everything" (Alternate Version)
https://youtu.be/AelaRoU-tiU?si=NkGMQueDLJvqm3W5
EP - Listen / Buy:
https://fatherdaughterrecords.com/products/pickle-darling-crumple-zones
Track Listing:
1. human bean (alternate version)
2. pinwheels (feat. Anna McClellan)
3. massive everything (alternate version)
Previous praise for Pickle Darling...
"A clutch of tiny gems - many tracks hardly longer than a minute - but leaving you reeling..." - MOJO
“Pickle Darling’s music captures and inspires an intricate sense of wonder… with each new release Pickle Darling expands their charming sonic cosmos filled with vibrant, intimate bedroom-pop vignettes.” - Crack Magazine
“Pickle Darling explores mundane magic in the effervescent Laundromat.” - Still Listening
“...A picture of a love substantial enough to bear the weight accumulated through living.” - Various Small Flames
“...Lukas Mayo serves up all the delightful pieces you would expect of them: glitchy textures, cut and paste acoustic guitar, and charming drum machines... Spreading out over a longer time, Mayo allows themselves the chance to morph and reform their thoughts and music into something completely different from one end to the other.” - Beats Per Minute
“Their third album is eccentric, fuzzy and really rather sweet… like The Shins doing Daniel Johnston songs.” - Hit The North
