🎧 Approved: Rusty Santos

Rusty Santos is one of those figures whose presence in modern indie and experimental music is often felt before it is named. He’s a long time collaborator with Animal Collective and Panda Bear, and a producer whose fingerprints turn up across leftfield pop and club records (including Born Ruffians, DJ Rashad and more).

On his own records, Santos pulls from psych folk, outsider pop and spiritual songwriting, but never in a way that feels archival. His music sits slightly askew, shaped by unusual tunings, soft dissonance and a sense of curiosity about sound itself. There are echoes of Nick Drake, Arthur Russell and early indie rock, but they feel absorbed rather than referenced. 

New single ‘Are You A Portal’ is the first glimpse of his forthcoming album ‘Psycho Horses’ and it leans into that suspended feeling. Built from acoustic guitar, light drums and flute, it moves slowly and deliberately, letting space do as much work as melody. 

Santos says of the song, “in the intro, white noise combines with a stretched-out lyric; it’s the title, a question, and then suddenly, my vocals and acoustic guitar are underway”. 

“Drums and flute are the only other accompanying instruments”, he goes on. “The chorus, ‘I’ll never gas you up’, echoes the Big Bang; I’m singing about how eternity is unknowable and worthy of reverence”.

🎧 Listen to new single ‘Are You A Portal’ below