Locust preps new LP ft Slowdive’s Neil Halstead & more (hear 3 songs), playing NYC & LA

Electronic music great Mark Van Hoen will return as Locust with a new album, Spectral +, on September 11 via TODO Records. It’s his first Locust record in three years and it features contributions from Slowdive‘s Neil Halstead (they were in Black Hearted Brother together), Natasha Morrow, Olive Kimoto, Nick Holton, and more.

You can listen to three songs from Spectral+ now, including “Long Distance Lover,” which features Halstead and Morrow, “Soul Sky,” which features Queens rapper Griff Spex, and gorgeous, ethereal new single “White Light” which features Kimoto.

“The song started life as ‘One Explanation’ on my subscriber-only Bandcamp album ‘It’s You’,” Mark says of “White Light.” He adds it’s based on a vocal sample from Sudanese music and “was developed with influence from fellow Touch artist Claire M Singer and her pieces performed on the Union Chapel Organ. To that, a live string quartet was added and the haunting 4-note vocal sample replaced by a session singer. Then, I presented the piece to Olive Kimoto, who wrote lyrics and vocal melody with distinctly religious and spiritual themes, prompted by the instrumentation and harmonic nature of the music itself. More development and dynamics came through live performance, with drums, bass and guitar recorded by the band and added before the final mix.”

You can watch the video for “White Light” and listen to the other two songs below.

Locust has a few dates lined up in September to celebrate Spectral+, including his first UK shows since touring with Massive Attack in 1998. There are also two US shows: Los Angeles’ 2220 Arts + Archives on 9/11, and Brooklyn’s Elsewhere Rooftop on 9/14. All dates are listed below.

Spectral +
Shape Of Another (Vocals: Olive Kimoto, Rap: Griff Spex)
Long Distance Lover (Vocals: Natasha Morrow) – WATCH
All of them (Vocals: Nick Holton)
White Light (Vocals: Olive Kimoto) – WATCH
Soul Sky (Vocals: Olive Kimoto, Rap: Griff Spex) – WATCH
No Space For Love (Vocals: Olive Kimoto)
Love Stays (Vocals: Omotola)
Face It! (Vocals: Natalie Foucauld)
Going Nowhere (Vocals: Olive Kimoto)
Midori/Falls Away From Me (Vocals: Natasha Morrow)

Locust – 2026 Live Dates
Sept 11 – 2220 Arts + Archives – Los Angeles, CA
Sept 14 – Elsewhere (Rooftop) – Brooklyn, NY
Sept 24 – Moth Club – London, UK
Sept 26 – The Glad Cafe – Glasgow, UK