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Jun 27, 2024 By Caleb Campbell

People I Love is the solo project of Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Dan Poppa. For the past few years, Poppa has been honing his style of spare, delicate, and lo-fi folk, recalling touchstones like Alex G or Elliot Smith and contemporaries like Greg Mendez. He debuted with his 2019 album, The Sounds of People, before following with 2020’s Lucky Magic, and 2021’s Bee Mountain.

Tomorrow, he is set to return with his self-titled album, and ahead of the album’s release, he has shared an early listen to one of the record’s highlights, “Riddle,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Riddle” fits well into the mold set by the record’s first two singles, “Bruise” and “Flooded Hive,” working with a similarly atmospheric blend of stripped-back guitar tones, delicate vocal melodies, and hazy production. Yet, “Riddle” feels more mystic and elliptical, with Poppa’s dreamy vocal melodies ensconced in a maze of oscillating guitar riffs. At points in the track, Poppa colors the instrumentation with hissing ambient touches or shadowy vocal harmonies, bringing forth an otherworldly atmosphere. The resulting track has a constant gravitational pull, inviting you deeper into its hypnotic lull as it winds onward.

Poppa says fo the track, “‘Riddle’ is the third single off my self-titled LP, but it’s special to me because it was the first song I wrote for the album. I didn’t even realize at the time that it was the start of anything, but the atmosphere of the song led to more ideas that ended up becoming the primary colors of the record. I guess I was thinking about the riddle you find in every person you meet. And the more you work to understand, the further away it can seem.”

Check out the song below. The People I Love is out tomorrow, June 28th.