Pickle Darling

Pickle Darling juxtaposes the sounds of whimsical indie pop with the earnest, vulnerable vocals of New Zealand songwriter/producer Lukas Mayo. After debuting the home-recorded solo project with an understated Beatles covers EP (2016's oh golly gosh, it's the beatles), they eventually landed in New Zealand's Top 40 with their more-refined second full-length, Cosmonaut, in 2021. Pickle Darling continued to dwell on the existential while returning to the playful, collage-like production of their earlier work on 2023's Laundromat. Based in Christchurch, Lukas Mayo originally took inspiration for Pickle Darling from everyday moments, things like beats tapped on the steering wheel at a red light, and writers such as Lydia Davis, whose collected short stories created scenes with as little as two sentences. The Pickle Darling moniker first appeared on July 2016's oh golly gosh, it's the beatles, a set of five gentle Beatles covers consisting of home recordings of Mayo singing with instruments including guitar, melodica, and glockenspiel. In less than a year, they returned with songs of their own on April 2017's self-released Spring Onion Pancakes EP. Its more ambitious, fuller arrangements continued to employ bright timbres like melodica and glockenspiel, as well as voice memos, something that would resurface on future releases. The EP's only credited guest was Jay Campugan, who played drums on one track. Without changing their philosophical approach or making substantial changes to instrumentation, Mayo clarified arrangements and production across the project's first two albums, beginning with January 2019's Bigness, Pickle Darling's Z Tapes debut. It got support from New Zealand radio and was accompanied by seven music videos and a slew of tour dates. Released on Z Tapes in May 2021, and partly inspired by science fiction and space travel, their sophomore LP, Cosmonaut, spent a week at number 40 on New Zealand's album chart. Outside contributions were still minimal, with only two backing vocalists and a poem reading credited. Taking a step back from the pressures of touring and expectations in general following their recent commercial success, Mayo cited artists like Connie Converse, Bill Fay, and Vashti Bunyan -- people who made music out of step with contemporaries and then disappeared from the public eye -- as inspiration for their next album. The songwriter also returned to the core idea of the mundane and to a habit of daily practice that found him reinvigorated. The resulting 12-song album, June 2023's Laundromat, was entirely written, recorded, and produced by Mayo, with voicemails and duet partner Christiane Shortal ("Early Geometry") as its only guests. It marked Pickle Darling's Father/Daughter Records debut.
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