In March 2026, Rolling Stone UK called Rett Smith “the future of American rock ‘n’ roll.” Now he’s channelling that restlessness somewhere new.

Tin Lung is that somewhere. The Los Angeles artist, producer and composer’s electronic project trades guitars for hardware synths, and its debut EP EP 1 arrives September 11 via Lavoir Records, distributed through AWAL. It lands somewhere between Burial, Squarepusher, Overmono and Autechre—dark electronic music built entirely by hand.

Every sound comes from outboard gear and hardware instruments. No software instruments, no AI: the entire signal chain, from synthesis to drums to reverbs and delays, is analogue hardware. Smith recorded it at his own Los Angeles studio, Tularosa Sound, and had it mastered by longtime collaborator Stefan Brown at Abbey Road.

For Smith, this isn’t a new sound so much as a long-buried one finally surfacing. “Tin Lung is my music in its purest form,” he says. “I’ve been creating nonstop in sonic seclusion, a creative rebirth, and the most free I’ve ever felt as an artist. This music isn’t new to me, I’ve lived inside it for decades; it’s only new as my output.”

The four tracks—”Want 2 Lose,” the focus track “See ME -if u want 2-,” “LOVERS” and “Fall Back 2 The Times”—make good on that. It’s a confident, fully formed opening statement which tracks for someone arriving with sold out tours and a press history spanning Billboard, Clash and NYLON. His credits also include guitar work on Hudson Mohawke’s Cry Sugar for Warp Records, a thread, he says, that was “always going to get pulled.”

EP 1 is the opening transmission ahead of a debut full length due in March 2027. On this evidence, the reinvention suits him.

Tin Lung’s EP 1 is out September 11 via Lavoir Records / AWAL. Listen here