Some collaborations feel inevitable. Others arrive sideways, built from instinct rather than intention. ‘An Absent Lover’ falls firmly into the latter, a track that began as a loose idea during lockdown and only found its shape years later through the addition of Nitida’s voice.
For Davey Lane, best known for his work with You Am I and an expansive solo catalogue, the song marks a subtle shift in approach. What started as an experimental synth loop, something he describes as almost unworkable, lingered unfinished, caught between ideas that never quite aligned. It’s a familiar kind of creative impasse, where instinct stalls and the material resists resolution.
Enter Nitida. Known for her work with Don’t Thank Me, Spank Me!, as well as a broader presence that moves between performance, fashion and theatre, she brings a different energy to the track. Where Lane’s instincts tend toward introspection, Nitida’s approach leans outward, sharper, more immediate, less concerned with restraint.
The result is ‘An Absent Lover’, a four-minute psych-disco piece that doesn’t settle into either artist’s established territory. Instead, it occupies a space between them, part release, part recalibration. It’s a track that feels less laboured than its origins suggest, its energy drawn from the contrast at its core.
Both artists continue to move across different contexts. Lane joins Augie March on their anniversary tour while maintaining a steady solo output, while Don’t Thank Me, Spank Me! carry their momentum onto the road alongside Bad//Dreems. This collaboration sits between those trajectories, not a pivot, but a momentary overlap.
If anything, ‘An Absent Lover’ suggests that the most interesting work often arrives when expectations are set aside entirely.
Listen to ‘An Absent Lover’ HERE.
