MOLTENO returns with new single “Daydream”

London-based artist MOLTENO has spent the last several years constructing a creative world that’s immersive and entirely her own. A singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, she works in the space between alternative pop and otherworldly production, creating music where intimate human emotion can expand into something far more cosmic. Dubbed ‘the love child of Björk and Bat For Lashes,’ her work is driven by atmosphere, imagination and a fascination with the connection between humanity and the universe around us.

The sense of world-building begins in her bedroom studio, where MOLTENO shapes her cinematic sound before developing it further with collaborators. Her songs form somewhere between reality and imagination, pairing ethereal textures with real-world emotion and transforming small sparks of feeling into expansive sonic experiences. Since her debut single “Hint” arrived in 2018, she’s developed an artistic output that feels increasingly enveloping, mapping out a space where sound, image and emotion are all intrinsically linked.

Her first EP, Element 1, arrived in 2022 and marked an exciting step in that adventure, introducing a compelling alternative pop artist with a knack for sonic storytelling. The project formed the first part of an ambitious four-part elemental series, with each EP devoted to a different element and its relationship to nature. Element 1 explored fire before Element 2 turned its attention towards air in 2024. Alongside the latter came the well-received single “Clouds,” further showcasing MOLTENO’s ability to build music around atmosphere and visual imagination.

Collaborations with fashion labels including Longshaw Ward and Eirinn Hayhow have helped shape a visual identity built around flowing fabrics, futuristic palettes and immersive aesthetics. Her live shows have developed into captivating, hypnotic extensions of the world she creates in the studio, with performances at Camp Bestival, Fractalight Festival of Light and Camden Assembly, alongside a sold-out headline show at The Love Shack.

Now, following last year’s “Treading Water,” MOLTENO enters the next stage of her elemental journey with “Daydream,” the second single lifted from the forthcoming Element 3. With the new EP representing the water chapter of the series, the music turns towards fragility, surrender and determination. “Daydream” distils in the complicated context of looking back at a relationship that was ultimately bad for you. Years later, hindsight has arrived too late to prevent the damage but perhaps just in time to make the memory beautiful. Ultimately, it’s a song caught between knowing better and still feeling drawn back towards what once was.

Drifting into focus with the swell of shimmering instrumental tones, MOLTENO’s smooth vocals enter above the soft pulse of synth and gentle taps of muted percussion to form a dreamy alternative pop soundscape. Flowing with woozy instrumentation and intoxicating melodic leads, arpeggiators circle and recircle, mirroring the persistence of a thought that don’t quite disappear. Live and programmed drums create a steady rhythm beneath while synth strings soften the edges into something sepia-toned and thoroughly transportive.

Progressing with the subtle zap of rising synth elements, the track flows glides with rustling drums as MOLTENO’s enticing vocal performance hover above, resulting in an engrossing musical experience that’s memorable, mesmeric and highly original all at once. With “Daydream”, MOLTENO continues to prove that her greatest strength lies in making emotion feel like an environment and with her highly anticipated EP on the horizon, she’s sure to charm countless new fans around the world on her captivating musical voyage.

Commenting on the single, she shares, “I wrote ‘Daydream’ looking back at relationships that weren’t good for me, and finding the pull still there years later. I think most of us have a memory like that: one we’ve quietly made more beautiful than it was, because the truth is harder to sit with.”

Listen to Daydream below

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