Last month, Los Angeles-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nick Flessa returned to the world of alt-country and Americana with the announcement of new album, A Different Kind of Energy, out April 17th via Anxiety Blanket Records. A fully instrumental collection, Flessa communicates volumes without uttering a word, conveying psychic landscapes of many latitudes.
Today, Flessa is sharing the project's second single, "The Terror, The Traitor and The Tastemaker," out February 17, 2026.
Drawing on his background in film and literature, Flessa composes striking, evocative pieces that tell stories through sound alone.
The track opens in eerie, almost menacing territory—evoking a desert stand-off or a pivotal cinematic moment—before unfolding into a series of epic, triumphant movements.
"The Terror, The Traitor and The Tastemaker achieves some of my favorite moments from this session and record (accomplished by the band tracking live, with room for improvisation), Flessa shares. "It starts in a sparse, ambient nighttime mode that drew inspiration from certain Yes guitar intros, albeit with somewhat less virtuosic execution. The build sections are emotional and soft, with an almost new-age tinge that sometimes reaches an ecstatic place; their hesitancy eventually cascades into a lurching, swampy, drone-metal riff that stomps through the track with destructive swagger. "
Flessa found inspiration in the vastness of certain forms of California visual and conceptual art, and other mediums that emphasized light and landscape. Acquiring a small cabin in the high desert town of Wonder Valley gave him time to sit in profound spaciousness; endless seas of desert with mountains in the distance where mirages of car lights occasionally emerged from miles away. It was in Wonder Valley that he started writing new instrumental pieces informed by that space, fitting them into the scene-crafting language that had already carried over to his songwriting from a background in film making.
A Different Kind of Energy is the end result of what began in the hanging stillness of the high desert, and was eventually fleshed out back in L.A. with many of the same players who had contributed to his 2024 album, The Politics of Personal Destruction. After some time working some of the new song ideas into live sets while they were still in sketch-like states, Flessa and crew recorded the entire album quickly over just a few days.
"The Terror, The Traitor and The Tastemaker " is out February 17, 2026 on all DSPs.
A Different Kind Of Energy is out April 17, 2026 via Anxiety Blanket Records. |
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