Pickle Darling

As Pickle Darling, Christchurch, New Zealand-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Lukas Mayo (they/them) zooms in on the universality of existential thought with earnest playfulness. After years of touring on previous albums, Bigness (2019, Z Tapes) and Cosmonaut (2021, Z Tapes) and supporting artists like Lucy Dacus and The Beths, Pickle Darling's newest single, "King Of Joy," marks their debut with Father/Daughter Records. The song bends Mayo's sweet electronica to a rewound introduction, crafting a kind of nostalgia for a place that only exists in our periphery. Mayo cites folk artists Connie Converse, Bill Fay, and Vashti Bunyan as inspirations, artists who put music into the world and then disappeared from the public eye. Mayo continues to garner acclaim for their ability to elevate lo-fi indie pop tunes with a rounded-out, clean sound and a knack for building tiny, thoughtful worlds along the way. For Mayo, art is everywhere: in shapes we make out of a napkin while waiting for our coffee to arrive, in the text we send to a friend in need, and in the beat we drum on the steering wheel while stuck at a red light. In "King Of Joy," we witness this truth through a hopeful, blooming instrumental that guides the listener toward Mayo's creed.