talker

talker has been running for a long time. To what exactly? She can’t answer that herself. After releasing her debut album I’m Telling You the Truth in 2024, talker (the alias of Los Angeles-based Celeste Tauchar) has been grappling with the reality of what telling the truth really means. While that record saw her having hard conversations and acknowledging truths for the first time, Tauchar’s new music feels like looking in a mirror, with the artist stepping into the unknown and making choices that come with radical honesty. These songs feel like standing out in the desert, wind whipping around you, fully exposed to the elements and being totally vulnerable to being seen, but moving forward anyway. The songwriting and production is raw and desolate, building up to intense moments of grit and emotion that match the sheer vastness of the west. Gold Rush, the lead single from talker’s forthcoming second LP, kicks off this new sonic palette, sounding straight out of a ghost town. Ironically, the song feels like a fresh start for talker, focusing on natural collaboration with her band. Written & produced with guitarist Matt Bernstein right after their tour supporting Wheatus, with JR Kurtz on drums, Gold Rush is the product of close friends just getting in the room and playing music without an end goal. Lauded by Pitchfork, NPR Music, Stereogum, Billboard, and more, talker is walking out into the sun, ready to be seen in her truest form: an artist with nothing to hide behind.