If you spent the ’90s wearing out your copies of Autechre and Aphex Twin records — or if you’re a Gen Z crate-digger who stumbled onto Mark Van Hoen through a cloud-rap sample — today’s news is for you. Locust, the long-running project of iconic English electronic musician Mark Van Hoen, has officially announced a new album, Spectral+, arriving September 11, 2026 via TODO Records.

To whet appetites, Locust has shared the album’s most delightfully left-field moment: “Soul Sky,” a collaboration with Queens rapper Griff Spex and vocalist Olive Kimoto. It’s Van Hoen’s first-ever direct collaboration with a rapper, and the pairing is more natural than you might expect. Droning sirens rub up against Griff’s energetic flow, metallic synths glint over an insistent heartbeat, and clusters of backbeats keep the whole thing lurching forward. It’s Locust at its most immediate — and, quietly, its most confrontational.

Watch the official music video for “Soul Sky” here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Locust+Soul+Sky+Griff+Spex

The story behind the track is a fun one. “Griff contacted me because he was a fan of my earlier (pre-‘Morning Light’) Locust material,” Van Hoen shares. “So I decided to make a track using the sonic makeup of those records. I used a couple of the same synths that I’ve still got since the early 90’s. The beat was made on the sampler I used on my album ‘Truth Is Born of Arguments’ (1995). It was my first time working directly with a rapper, I’m very happy it was Griff!”

For his part, Griff Spex frames the song as a manifesto for moving on. “The core of the lyrics is about the process of detaching from overgrown situations, whether it be in a romantic relationship or a relationship with yourself,” he explains. “Seeing the place where you might be caught up in overabundance, but innately knowing the silver lining of life experience is that there’s something more in a new direction, and that feeling is propelling you to move forward. This song is a catalyst for a new door, ‘only a moment to level it up.'”

Spectral+ features a rotating cast of collaborators — Olive Kimoto, Natasha Morrow, Nick Holton of Black Hearted Brother, and Griff Spex — and pulls from a serious family tree of influences: Giorgio Moroder, Brian Eno, My Bloody Valentine, and Boards of Canada, all used as launching pads rather than templates. “I’m much more interested in songs, these days – the songwriting process,” Van Hoen says, and it shows. Last month’s single “Long Distance Lover,” which featured Slowdive’s Neil Halstead on guitar and Natasha Morrow on vocals, made the case beautifully: pulsating synths, drawn-out lyrics, a real ache for connection.

Spectral+ Tracklist:
1. Shape Of Another (Vocals: Olive Kimoto, Rap: Griff Spex)
2. Long Distance Lover (Vocals: Natasha Morrow)
3. All of Them (Vocals: Nick Holton)
4. White Light (Vocals: Olive Kimoto)
5. Soul Sky (Vocals: Olive Kimoto, Rap: Griff Spex)
6. No Space For Love (Vocals: Olive Kimoto)
7. Love Stays (Vocals: Omotola)
8. Face It! (Vocals: Natalie Foucauld)
9. Going Nowhere (Vocals: Olive Kimoto)
10. Midori/Falls Away From Me (Vocals: Natasha Morrow)

Locust will celebrate the release of Spectral+ with a live show at 2220 Arts + Archives in Los Angeles on September 11, 2026 — a fitting home base for a project whose current live incarnation (Van Hoen, Kimoto, guitarist Derek Mabra, and drummer Jaelyn Valero) has been steadily building steam since opening for Massive Attack back in the ’90s. Yes, you read that right — this is the first proper live campaign in decades, and by all accounts, the band is a band, not a hired-hand situation.

The cult following, meanwhile, keeps growing in unexpected directions. “It’s a phenomenon of what’s been happening on the internet,” Van Hoen notes. “I guess it’s the same as what happened to the Krautrockers when they found themselves discovered by a younger generation. The good will out.”

Pre-order Spectral+ now, grab tickets for the 2220 Arts + Archives release show, and follow Locust on Instagram at @locust_mvh for tour updates. And in the meantime — press play on “Soul Sky.” It’s a proper level-up.