We've been fans of yours since Hyaline in 2022, with Spike Field cementing our admiration. Did you have any specific goals or intentions for your third album?

With this third record I was trying to explore different emotional terrain, a landscape that’s more jagged and varied. I tried to bring things down to earth, so to speak, both in terms of the production and overall feel of the record as well as its subject matter.

The first single and title track of Marathon feels like a microcosm of feelings and ideas, with the gas station sign serving as a jumping off point. Are you often inspired by visual prompts and metaphors?

I like lyrics that offer some imagery for the listener to hold onto. And yes, when an image resurfaces again and again in my memory, I assume it’s bringing a message with it, that it’s trying to tell me something, like images do in our dreams, so I try to stay attuned to those images and let them be like prompts, as you said.

The album addresses multiple societal issues from late-stage capitalism to climate change. Would you consider it to be a protest album of sorts?

I wouldn’t say I wrote a protest album, but I do believe in the power of disruption and interference, and the songs show this more or less explicitly.

Could you tell us about your writing process in general and how you like to make music?

I work slowly, alone and often in the dark. My favorite part is the beginning, weaving different harmonies and chords together until I find a progression that’s exciting to me. Then I’ll record myself singing a melody over that, and later write lyrics to suit that melody, which is the most difficult part.

Your music is often filed next to slowcore greats like Duster and more contemporary purveyors of the genre like midwife. What kind of music did you listen to growing up?

As a kid, I remember feeling drawn to the moody harmonies of ‘70s and ‘80s pop throwbacks on the radio, and I liked the sadness and desperation of the old country albums my grandparents would put on. As a teenager I started seeking out music myself and got very into Cat Power, Jason Molina, Smog, stuff like that.

If you could curate the perfect conditions for listeners to experience Marathon in, what would they be?

A long drive along rural routes in Ohio, where the only gas stations are Marathon stations.

So far both music videos on this campaign have been directed & edited by F. Saber Sutphin. Can you tell us about how these videos were made and about your creative relationship?

Saber and I talked for a while about what I wanted the videos to feel like - what moods and ideas in the music I wanted the videos to bring out - and they came up with the concepts based on that. We drove out to Treasure Island at night, and they attached these jumper cables to my clothes and filmed it all under a yellow streetlight; we sunk a rowboat they’d built in the freezing water at Alameda Beach - they just knew what to do instinctively, how to give shape to everything visually. It’s such a joy to work with them because we’re obsessed by similar things but approach them from very different directions, by virtue of our being drawn to different mediums. The art we make and the art we both love tends to be shadowy, abstract, and intense. I feel so fortunate to share that kind of connection with someone.

As a solo artist, do you find it challenging to adapt recordings for live performances and if so how do you overcome this?

Yes, it’s challenging. I like to try out different things - I’m about to play with a full five-piece band for the first time, which I’m really looking forward to. Usually I’m up there alone or with one other person, with some samples and recordings playing underneath. I like to think of a live performance as a remix of a song rather than a reproduction or approximation of the recording.

We know that touring internationally is more difficult than ever at the moment. Do you have any plans to play outside of the states any time soon?

In the works!

As a UK-based blog, we're not always in the loop with the US underground. Are there any artists in your scene that you think we should know about?

There’s an Oakland-based artist who goes by sachi’s mirror - she released a really beautiful EP last year called room to receive. My friends Lucy Liyou and Kathryn Mohr are both putting out new records on April 17, and they’re both incredible. They live in the East Bay too.

Lastly, if you could do something to help musicians who are starting out now, what would it be?

I’d give them cheap rent and a month off work.