Laura Misch - Lithic

The London-based multi-instrumentalist returns via One Little Independent Records with a magnetic work where electronics meet the ancestral breath of deep time.

Released on June 5th, 2026, Lithic, the highly anticipated second album from London-based multi-instrumentalist and producer Laura Misch, reveals itself from its very first moments as a work of remarkable conceptual depth - a profound and magnetic sonic meditation capable of connecting our most distant past with generations yet to come.

At the heart of the album lies the concept of deep time, a dimension in which the linear progression of days dissolves, giving way to a more circular and layered experience of existence. As Misch explained while discussing the origins of the track Echoes, the lyrical inspiration emerged from a fascinating collision of images and ideas: the wonder she felt while observing ancient Paleolithic Venus figurines - some of humanity’s earliest expressions of artistic and spiritual consciousness - merged with the everyday amazement of watching the newborn movements of a friend’s child. A tiny body, yet vibrating with a pure, untouched and deeply ancestral sensory energy, as if the entire history of human evolution were unfolding once again before her eyes.

From a purely musical perspective, Lithic is built around a small number of primordial elements, selected with almost ritualistic care. It is a form of sacred minimalism in which breath and voice become the album’s structural foundation, constantly manipulated, filtered and echoed through electronic processes in order to explore the boundaries between the human and the technological.

Alongside them stands the saxophone - Laura Misch’s signature instrument - which here abandons traditional conventions and virtuosic ambitions to become pure breath, a nocturnal call, an invisible thread connecting spaces and moments. Supporting it is a rich palette of organic percussion, most notably a goatskin drum performed by Matt Davies, whose presence lends the music a ceremonial, visceral and hypnotic pulse.

A perfect example of this meticulous anthropological approach can be found in the rhythmic origins of Echoes itself.

The track’s groove traces back to a score originally composed by Misch for BBC Radio, inspired by scientific research into the calls of female lemurs. Remarkably, researchers have identified structural similarities between these biological patterns and the iconic rhythm of Queen’s We Will Rock You. Misch internalized and recreated these patterns by first using the keys of her saxophone as percussive instruments before expanding them through live percussion, demonstrating how pop music, nature and mythology ultimately share the same heartbeat.

What makes listening to Lithic such a radically immersive and spiritual experience is the authenticity of its acoustic spaces. The reverberations surrounding the listener are not the result of sterile digital algorithms, but carry the physical memory, coldness and humidity of the places where the album was conceived. Misch recorded and improvised inside caves and quarries across Cornwall, seeking an acoustic dialogue with the Earth itself.

Captured within these subterranean environments and later processed through vintage tape machines, the resulting sound acquires a warm, magnetic and beautifully imperfect grain. It feels weathered by time and shaped by the elements, as though the music itself had emerged from the geological layers it seeks to evoke.

Ultimately, Lithic is not simply an album to be listened to, but a sacred space to inhabit. It is a work of extraordinary coherence in which Laura Misch brings together electronic experimentation and the oldest breath of the world, reaffirming her place as one of the most original creative voices of her generation. It also sets the stage for her highly anticipated performance at London’s prestigious Barbican on July 3rd, where these milestones in her artistic journey will finally come to life.