There’s a hauntingly familiar way in which loneliness can creep in when you’re surrounded by people. It can feel like such a small thing, but it will gnaw away at you until it’s the dominant thought in your mind. This is a feeling that Katie and I have chatted about in private many times throughout the years, and on this episode, we tackle it head-on. How do you make sense of that specific sense of isolation when surrounded by friends while you’re also doing what you love? Fair warning to you, this definitely isn’t a podcast where we solve the grand mysteries of loneliness, but hopefully, hearing us chat about it will help ya feel less alone.

This is episode 2 of 5 (Intro song is Fa Fa Fire by Andreas Dahlback, from Epidemic Sound). Artwork photo by Katie Dadarria.

This is another episode that feels unintentionally timely. We all crave escapism, but to many of us, it increasingly feels like the escapism available to us can leave us feeling more detached than intended. Enter in Brooklyn R&B duo Bathe, a group that’s made it their mission to make music that acts as “a balm for the anxieties of modern life.” Take it from this music lover, the ways in which their album Inner Voice(s) has become a refuge for me is something I’m perpetually grateful for & it’s a privilege getting to introduce you to these guys.

That said, to just call them R&B would be unfair, and even their self-embraced descriptor of alt-R&B feels too small. What Bathe excel at is bringing you soundscapes that feel intimate, familiar, and fresh all at once. Across this episode, we go into their origin story, along with the whys and hows of how they go about doing what they do best.

(Thank you, Heather!). Welcome to the first proper episode of In The Long Run with Katie Dadarria. If you missed the announcement episode, don’t worry, this first episode has been (partially) designed to catch you up to speed. Throughout these episodes, I’m going to be chatting with my dear friend, Katie Dadarria, about a developing personal project she’s working on, which features her interviewing older women about their experiences running. One of the lenses we’re utilizing is the exploration of how run clubs have blown up in popularity, the good and the bad of that, along with the conflicting feelings of community and isolation that we can feel in groups.

As the series progresses, we’ll be investigating the ways in which these talks have affected Katie, and with each episode, we talk explicitly about her thoughts and feelings towards the evolution of these people's lives (including her own). For this first chat, it only made sense to have a direct talk about running, an activity that many of us can’t imagine partaking in (even with the mounting peer pressure to do so).

This is episode 1 of 5 (Intro song is Fa Fa Fire by Andreas Dahlback, from Epidemic Sound). Artwork photo by Katie Dadarria.

I couldn’t be more excited to announce our next mini-series, In The Long Run with Katie Dadarria. Katie is an exceptionally talented photographer and runner based in New York City. Though running has become a focal element of her life, she’s grown hyper-aware of how often the projection of community amongst run clubs can be anything but. Especially regarding older women, who (as Katie puts it) “are often not encouraged to show up, despite having so much to offer.”

Across these talks, I chat with Katie about her experiences talking to these women, how the feelings of isolation, aging, and exclusion can feel more tangible than we recognize. A core of this series is being challenged by our own misconceptions of others and what they’re going through, with Katie also exploring how she’s navigating the changes of her life and learning from the people she’s been meeting along the way.

The first episode will be out on Wednesday, February 11th. Be sure to follow Katie on Instagram and visit her website to learn more about her and her work (Intro song is Fa Fa Fire by Andreas Dahlback, from Epidemic Sound)

I don’t think it’d be a stretch to say that ambition can usually be associated with a lot of tropes. The tortured artist laboring over their craft & resigning themselves to perpetually chasing greatness at the expense of everything (no, this isn’t a review of Marty Supreme, but I did love that movie). But what happens when an artist is able to take ambition and view it through a different lens? Even a healthier lens?

That’s been the case with my old friends of the band St. Lucia, with that healthy ambition being evident across their recently released Fata Morgana double-album. Broken up into two halves (Dawn and Dusk) the album is a soaring triumph, with massive swings musically that feel reminiscent of ABBA, Paul Simon, and Brazilian folk music. My favourite part about this project is how it very much feels alive, a high-quality collection of songs that don’t feel marred by perfectionism, which I can say is a new space for St. Lucia to be operating in. To learn more about this album and the way it expanded the band's life, I got to catch up with Jean and Patti at their home in Brooklyn to learn all about the transformative experience of bringing this music to life.

(Este episodio está presentado por Maddy Cline). Existe un tipo de dolor del que rara vez se habla. Un duelo que es a la vez silencioso y ruidoso, que nos acompaña en nuestros trayectos diarios, mientras cocinamos y en muchos otros momentos. Es el duelo que surge al intentar comprender esta vida, el torbellino de información, el ciclo de noticias de 24 horas, los salarios cada vez más bajos… la lista es interminable. No vas a encontrar la cura para este duelo en este podcast, pero sí encontrarás la banda sonora que te ayudará a afrontarlo. Esto es gracias a nuestra invitada de hoy, Ela Minus, una artista de Bogotá, Colombia, que encarna lo que significa ser una persona inconformista. Ela crea música electrónica sin concesiones que busca tanto hacerte bailar como reflexionar; música que te invita a crecer como persona. Para lograrlo, Ela ha documentado su propio crecimiento a lo largo de su segundo álbum, DÍA. Es un álbum que explora cómo la sanación y la vulnerabilidad que la acompaña rara vez son lineales, cómo para sentirnos más completos, debemos ver la vida desde diferentes perspectivas, incluso internamente. Este es nuestro primer episodio en otro idioma del podcast The New Exchange, y esperamos que sea el primero de muchos. Gracias por acompañarnos en este viaje.

(Your eyes aren’t deceiving you with the artwork. You can hear part 1 of Remembering Talos here).

Surprise! Welcome to the finale of season 10. As 2025 comes to a close, it felt only fitting to welcome back Ólafur Arnalds to the pod. The talk we had back in season 9 has gone on to become a massive favourite of mine, and yeah, it just felt so important to have a full + proper chat regarding our friend, Eoin French (aka Talos).

You see, before Eoin’s passing, the two created an album together titled A Dawning. It’s one of the biggest standouts of 2025 to me. I mean, yes, I am absurdly biased, but you’d truly be hard-pressed to find music that better evokes sensitivity, whimsy, joy, and tenderness than the songs across this album. The first half of this conversation is Ólafur and I going in-depth about the album's making, along with us reminiscing about Eoin.

The second half of the episode also features Ólafur and I, but this time we are joined by Sofi Paez and Sam Beste (aka The Vernon Spring), two artists who’re part of the OPIA Community. OPIA is a creative collective of artists that grew together during the pandemic over Discord. What started as a modest attempt at community has sprawled into a global beacon of light for creatives, as well as becoming a record label (which has put out the stellar albums by Sofi and Sam, Silent Stories, and Under A Familiar Sun, respectively). Together, the four of us explore the vitality of having community in not just the world of music, but life itself. Major thanks to Pete Olshansky for lending his voice to the intro. This episode is dedicated to Steph and Peadar Ó Goill.
Btw, here are some relevant links for you:

Eoin French’s Obituary via the Irish Examiner

Ólafur Arnalds season 9 episode (released March 2025)

We Didn’t Know We Were Ready Tribute on the Tommy Tiernan Show

The OPIA Community Discord & Instagram

Nowadays, there’s pressure on artists to produce art that feels broad strokes. Pieces that aren’t specific to a place or time, with the hopes of it reaching the widest audience possible (i.e. the approach of producing “content”).

But what happens when an artist does the opposite? When they not only lean into where they’re from, but also unflinchingly share a life experience that’s hyper-specific to them and their community? For Irish singer-songwriter/visual artist David Balfe (aka For Those I Love), that endeavor has been second nature. But like all great artists, it hasn’t come without a cost, the act of pouring so much pain into works. The end result has been two uncompromising and exhilarating bodies of work, the Choice Prize winning self-titled/debut album (released in 2021) and his latest album, Carving A Stone (released this year). Across this episode, we chat about the depths of those works, how moments of light can seep into times of grief, and our beautiful relationships with his native Ireland.

As mentioned within the episode, you absolutely should listen to Four by Dave’s friend Paul S. Curran here via SoundCloud. You can also check out my old episode with Eloi Youssef here (thank you again to the people of The Netherlands for all the love this year!).