Our recurring feature series Track by Track allows artists to guide readers through each song on their latest album. In this edition, duendita breaks down their latest album, existential thottie.
duendita makes music for the feelers. We’ve known this since the self-contained artist and band released their debut LP, direct line to My Creator, in 2018. That album saw duendita searching within and outside of themselves for a larger sense of purpose and belonging. The projects that have followed that first one, 2024’s the mind is a miracle and 2025’s A Strong Desire to Survive, featured a defiant duendita, a person who was discontent with letting life happen to them. Their latest album, existential thottie, sees the musician continuing to explore life’s most disparate moments over rich sonic textures.
“At first, I was nervous to share this project,” duendita shares in a press release. “The songs are so personal, like a diary. Then I realized this is the first project I produced completely ‘head 2 toe,’ so no wonder… these songs started with me, sometimes just me and my Digitakt, alone, late nights and early mornings, pure expression. Maybe this project is for me, more than for anyone else.”
As is the case for all of duendita’s releases, the album comes from a place of experimentation. Per duendita, they worked on the demos as much as they could, then brought in their collaborators and bandmates. “I love letting our live experiences inform our recorded music,” they say. “That’s how we ended up with harp and live drums, additional vocals, keys, and bass.”
At its core, existential thottie is about being “jiggly, ridiculous, and honest” — words duendita uses to describe their life and the assorted adventures that come with it. Their vocals take on the form of syncopated sighs that act like percussion (“I’ma just be a flower”) and full-throated vibrato that’s capable of standing alone in a capella (“what happened?”). Select sounds and established creative partnerships buoy existential thottie, as duendita frolics from breakups to hot sex to situationships to unexpected realities like navigating the state mental health system. Through every part of life, duendita promises that they will give healing their all; this album is another step in that process.
Read duendita’s complete Track by Track breakdown of existential thottie and stream the LP below.