dye — aka Los Angeles artist Daniel Ye — shares their latest single “dirt,” a propulsive and concise work that begs you to question what’s worth working to salvage, and what’s better tossed aside.

Built atop a very new wave drum beat that has powered hits by artists from Flock Of Seagulls to The Kid Laroi, “dirt” peddles in goth pop’s yearning and shoegaze’s moody sonic flourishes. Ye’s voice — not sounding unlike The Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser — whispers the lyrics like a strained confession, breathing urgently into your ear for no one else to hear. It’s a powerful gesture, one emblematic of dye’s heightened musical vision.

Listen to “dirt” here.

Of “Dirt,” dye says: “This song is about seeing someone entirely as they are without judgment, but realizing it’s one-sided. You continue to exert yourself hoping to make a noticeable change or progress, but realize it will never happen if you’re the only one trying, this song is about accepting that not everything broken needs repairing, sometimes it’s best to throw it away.”

For Ye, a self-described shy kid from LA who picked up a guitar as a 13-year-old after hearing a long-gone Kurt Cobain on the radio, a dye song is more than the just sum of its parts — it’s a window into who he really, truly is…at last. As he did on previous single  “supernAtural,” “dirt” finds dye honing in on a signature sonic landscape, tying together the grunge tones of Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, the literate angst and melodic introspection of Elliot Smith or John Lennon, and a dash of dark orchestral maneuvers reminiscent of My Chemical Romance or Smashing Pumpkins. These elements are then cast against impressionistic swirls of sound and imbued with a blistering angst.

It’s a heady combination: dye’s unmistakable sound has already won fans at BBC Radio1 (Rock Show w/ Daniel Carter), Australian radio station Triple j, and loads of editorial love at Spotify and Apple. As the young songwriter continues building out the world of dye — a process that includes a cinematic “Dirt” video arriving next week — listeners are sure to discover rich new veins of emotion.