Some collaborations are born in a single feverish studio session. Others marinate for years, waiting patiently for the right voice to walk into the room — or, in this case, dial in from across an ocean. “Long Distance Lover,” the new single from Locust, the long-running project of iconic English electronic musician Mark Van Hoen, is firmly in the latter camp, and it’s all the better for it.

Out today via Todo Records, “Long Distance Lover” pairs Van Hoen’s signature pulsating synth work with guitar from Slowdive’s Neil Halstead and vocals from Irish musician Natasha Morrow. The result is exactly what you’d hope a Locust-meets-Slowdive crossover would sound like: oceanic drones, drawn-out melodies, and riffs draped across each layer like fog rolling off the Pacific. Morrow’s voice floats over the top with the ache of someone whispering into a phone receiver at three in the morning, which, as it turns out, is more or less the point.

“The music was recorded back in 2020 originally as a collab between Neil Halstead and I,” Van Hoen explains. “It sat around for a few years, and I had the idea to send it to Natasha to see if it inspired anything vocally. She came up with the idea of long-distance phone calls between lovers. It struck a chord with me as I had experienced a couple of relationships like that. The idea of repeating these expressions of desire and longing over and over, because you are aching to be together.”

Van Hoen notes that he and Morrow had never actually met in person before tracking the song — a fact that usually spells doom for a remote collaboration in his book. “Generally, I find that remote collabs don’t work because there’s a connection missing somehow. But in Natasha’s case, I had several long phone calls with her, and I think we connected that way. Not in any romantic sense, but as musical collaborators. I found it interesting that it related to the song’s lyrics in that she and I established a different kind of personal bond over the phone.”

The accompanying music video leans all the way into that mood, with silhouettes drifting in and out of the frame to mirror the push-and-pull of a relationship measured in time zones.

Stream “Long Distance Lover” on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4Z8W4fKeB5YxbusRsdQVPb

For the uninitiated, Locust has quietly been one of the more influential names in electronic music for over three decades, with Pitchfork once placing Van Hoen on a family tree alongside Brian Eno and Tangerine Dream while crediting him with presaging both Autechre’s glitch and Boards of Canada’s pastoral IDM. After years away from the stage, the project has roared back to life with a new live configuration featuring NTS Radio DJ Olive Kimoto on lead vocals, marking Locust’s first live performances since supporting Massive Attack in the ’90s.

The reunion tour continues May 28 at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, CA, where Locust will share the bill with Dummy and Harmony Index. If you’ve been waiting to catch this project in a desert roadhouse under a sky full of stars — and honestly, who hasn’t — this is the one.

★ LOCUST LIVE 2026 ★
May 28 — Pappy & Harriet’s — Pioneertown, CA (w/ Dummy and Harmony Index)

Press play, dim the lights, and call someone you miss.