Three Track Week #40: Echoes, Uncertainty and Finding Your Way
Three songs about love, memory and the moments that shape us.
This week’s Three Track Week 40 brings together three very different takes on love, uncertainty and the things we carry with us. 100%WET blend hazy guitars and powerful vocals on “Indigo”, Federale turn personal uncertainty into dark, driving rock on "Love & Other Lies", and Paris-based duo Nerisah revisit the memories of war on “East Ghost”. Three distinct sounds, each with its own story to tell.
100%WET - “Indigo”
“Indigo” draws you in with its atmospheric beat and hazy vocals. Everything feels a little fragile at first, but there’s a real strength underneath it. When the chorus arrives, the female vocals bring a new kind of power, while the guitars open up into a huge wall of sound. Then the music seems to dissolve again, only to come back clear and full in the next chorus. It’s a constant shift between softness and intensity.
Sound / Mood
There’s something almost hypnotic about the way 100%WET build the song. The verses feel blurred around the edges, while the choruses suddenly bring everything into focus. The guitars create a wide, immersive sound, but they never completely take over. The vocals remain at the center, moving between an airy atmosphere and a much stronger delivery. After the second chorus, the arrangement takes another turn. Clean guitars, both picked and strummed, come in alongside a riff that caught my attention straight away. It has an almost hypnotic quality, and just when you start settling into it, the song is over. I wouldn't have minded another minute.
Why This Matters
“Indigo” is a good example of how the meaning of a song can change over time. Casper Munns originally wrote it from a dark place, describing a feeling of desperate longing. But as time passed, he began to hear it differently, more as a love song and a celebration of life. I like that he doesn't insist on one fixed interpretation. Sometimes a song belongs to the person who wrote it, and sometimes it takes on a different meaning once it reaches someone else. There’s also something meaningful about Sanna Heinstedt becoming a permanent member of the band. Her voice has been part of 100%WET's music and live shows for some time, but “Indigo” marks a moment when that connection is finally made official. The interplay between her vocals and Casper’s feels central to the track. It sounds less like a new addition and more like a band finding the shape it was moving toward all along.
Context
100%WET formed at Copenhagen's Rhythmic Music Conservatoire. Jakob Birch and Casper Munns started the project with the idea of combining the immersive guitars of shoegaze with the rhythmic intensity of drum and bass. They describe their sound as "hypergaze", a mix of alternative rock atmosphere, layered guitars, electronic beats and heavily processed vocals. Sanna Heinstedt, also known as ASA Eir, first appeared on an early 100%WET single, “Ether”. She has since become a regular part of the band's creative and live work and is now an official member alongside Jakob and Casper. The new single also follows a difficult period for the band. Last year, Casper was hospitalized with a rare, life-threatening illness and placed in an induced coma. The situation forced the cancellation of shows and recording sessions, including the band's planned UK live debut. Their return with “Indigo” comes after a period that could have changed the future of the project entirely. Their self-titled debut album received coverage from publications including "The Line of Best Fit", "CLASH" and "Dork", while the band have played SPOT Festival and Roskilde and supported Primal Scream in Copenhagen. “Indigo” is their latest single and is out now via Crunchy Frog Recordings.
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Federale - ”Love & Other Lies”
There’s something immediately familiar about Federale’s “A Strange Vice”. The deep, clear vocals, driving drums and production bring back the sound of the ’80s, but it never feels like a simple throwback. The album keeps that energy going with “Kill The Rabbit”, which opens with a punchy beat and guitars that give it a real sense of momentum. There’s a little Billy Idol in there, and I could easily imagine this playing in one of those great ’80s clubs where nobody wants to leave the dance floor.
Sound / Mood
Federale know how to create an atmosphere, and "Love & Other Lies" has plenty of different shades. “No Cure” has the kind of energy that makes you want to sing along, get in a convertible and just drive. The tension carries through the record, but it takes a different turn with “Sad Machine”. The song starts slower, with a more restrained arrangement and vocals right at the front. There’s a darker, almost gothic feeling to it. “I Want A New Drug” brings blues elements into the mix, with cool, confident vocals and drums that keep everything moving. And then there’s “Hey”. It starts with a guitar riff that immediately sounds huge. This is music made for a big stage, a big sound and a proper finale. What I like about the album is that it moves between all these moods without losing its identity.
Why This Matters
There’s a particular kind of uncertainty running through "Love & Other Lies". The album began during a difficult period for frontman Collin Hegna, when the future of his recording studio in Portland was suddenly in doubt. The studio was more than just a place to work. It was his livelihood, home to his equipment and a central part of his creative life. Faced with the possibility of losing it, he turned to songwriting. That background gives the record a different weight. Songs like “Fear Naught” deal with the feeling that everything around you could fall apart, and the decision not to let fear have the final word. It’s a very human response to a situation that offers little certainty: you can’t control everything that happens, but you can decide how you face it. There’s also something interesting about turning that anxiety into music that is so big, dramatic and full of movement. The album doesn't sound defeated. It sounds like someone pushing back.
Context
Federale was founded in Portland in 2004 by Collin Hegna, who is also known for playing bass with The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The band draws on spaghetti western soundtracks, European film scores, folk murder ballads and the darker side of ’60s and ’70s rock. Across seven albums, that mix has developed into a distinctive sound shaped by post-punk, new wave, gothic rock and psychedelic influences. "Love & Other Lies" is their seventh album and was released via Jealous Butcher Records. It brings together Hegna’s deep vocals, atmospheric guitars, Prophet-5 synthesizers, melodic basslines and tightly arranged drums. The record also features a dark interpretation of David Bowie’s “It Ain’t Easy”, alongside original songs such as “Fear Naught”, “Kill The Rabbit” and “Hey”. Hegna has also worked as a producer and recording engineer at Revolver Studios in Portland, recording artists including The Shivas, Roselit Bone and Jenny Don’t & The Spurs. The studio’s uncertain future became one of the starting points for this album, giving "Love & Other Lies" a more personal edge than its cinematic sound might initially suggest.
🎧 Stream "Love & Other Lies” on Apple Music · Follow Federale on Instagram
Nerisah - “East Ghost”
“East Ghost” has a pretty unsettling opening. The sounds almost remind me of a horror movie before the guitar riff comes in. Then the vocals join, soft but surprisingly strong. There’s a lot of reverb, which gives the whole track this strange, ghostly feeling. It almost seems to float along. The chorus brings in drums and electric guitars, with a high sound running in the background. In the second verse, the vocals become stronger, but the effects still make them sound a little distant. I really like that. When the guitar riff returns later, together with the vocals, the song takes on an almost ritualistic feel. It’s a cool track, and definitely not something you hear every day.
Sound / Mood
What I like about “East Ghost” is that it doesn't sound too polished or predictable. The guitars, effects and vocals all have their own character, and the atmosphere is a big part of what makes the song work. There’s a clear contrast between the quieter verses and the fuller chorus, but the track never loses its slightly unsettling mood. It also has a very particular vocal sound. Sometimes the voice feels close and delicate, then the effects push it somewhere else entirely. It fits the song perfectly. You can hear that Nerisah aren't afraid to try things that might seem a little unusual.
Why This Matters
“East Ghost” started with something very personal for Mersiha. When war returned to the news, it brought back memories of her childhood in Bosnia. She had written the song years earlier, during a lonely period in Paris, when playing guitar was one of the things that helped her get through the day. There’s something difficult about seeing images and stories of war and suddenly being reminded of things you thought were in the past. For people who have lived through conflict, those memories don't necessarily disappear just because life has moved on. They can come back unexpectedly, triggered by something happening thousands of miles away. I think that makes the song's title particularly fitting. A ghost is something you can't quite leave behind. “East Ghost” doesn't try to explain that experience or turn it into a political statement. It gives those memories a place in the music, and lets the atmosphere do much of the talking.
Context
Nerisah are a Paris-based duo formed in March 2026 by Bosnian-born Mersiha and French musician Nico. They sing in French, English and Bosnian, mixing raw guitars, atmospheric vocals and sounds that don't always fit neatly into one genre. Their influences reach from recordings of the 1950s to the 1990s, and they describe their music as “nocturnal dust, with a taste of alternative rock.” The two started making music together after deciding to perform a song at an open mic night at Paris's Highlander. Their first attempt didn't go particularly well, but they kept meeting and experimenting. Improvisation soon became an important part of their process. Rather than sticking to a fixed arrangement, they prefer to see where a song takes them. That approach shaped “East Ghost”, too. After trying different arrangements, they went back to improvising and found that cowbells and tambourines worked better than a conventional drum kit. It's a small detail, but it says quite a lot about how they approach music: they seem more interested in finding what feels right for a particular song than following familiar rules.
🎧 Stream "East Ghost” on Apple Music · Follow Nerisah on Instagram
I keep coming back to how differently these three acts deal with difficult experiences. For 100%WET, there is the feeling of coming through a period when everything could have fallen apart. Federale turn the uncertainty surrounding their future into rock music that refuses to sit still. And with Nerisah, the past is never quite as far away as we might like to think. There is no single way to deal with any of this. Sometimes you write a song, sometimes you pick up a guitar with someone else, and sometimes you just keep going. These records capture a little of what that looks like.
Further perspectives are available in our Artist Features, Cultural Essays and On This Track, each situating music within broader cultural and structural contexts.
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