Sylvan Esso, photo by Elizabeth Weinberg

Sylvan Esso have returned with “WDID,” their first new release in three years. The single from the Grammy-nominated electro-pop duo of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn is also their first on their Psychic Hotline record label, launched in partnership with Secretly Distribution in 2021. 

Sylvan Esso’s first fresh recording since their fourth studio album, No Rules Sandy, is an explosive, unrelenting headrush, with Meath unleashing a torrent of hard truths over a hectic, booming beat from Sanborn. The track was recorded at Betty’s, the duo’s own studio in the woods of Chapel Hill, N.C., with additional production from Jake Luppen of Hippo Campus. It’s available on all streaming platforms now, except Spotify, from which the duo has decided to remove their discography.

“As we prepare to release new music, we have to decide what we want to be a part of and what we don’t,” Meath and Sanborn detailed in a co-authored statement. “To that end, with Sylvan Esso being on our own label for the first time, we have decided to remove our music from Spotify. While no solution is perfect, we simply can’t continue to put our life’s work in a store that, in addition to all its other glaring flaws, directly funds war machines. Reaching towards the world we all deserve, even though we are not in it yet, a&n.”

Sylvan Esso’s departure from Spotify arrives as the streaming giant faces backlash for CEO Danial Ek’s venture capital firm Prima Materia and its investment in Helsing, a defense technology company specializing in AI-enhanced weapons and surveillance systems. Widespread objection to the connection has led several other high-profile artists to remove their music from the platform, including Massive Attack, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Cindy Lee, Hotline TNT, Skee Mask, John Mailander and more.

Watch the official visualizer for “WDID” created by artists Aaron Anderson and Eric Timothy Carlson, below. Preorder the single’s release on a physical 12″, backed by the yet unreleased “KEEP ON,” here.