“Will be back in touch”: Lorde indicates that she’s been collaborating with producer Jim-E Stack as she teases us from the studio with a very short snippet of new music

Lorde appears to be teasing a new era of music with a one-second snippet of audio and a series of photos.

The New Zealand star hasn’t released a new album in almost three years, an Instagram story indicates that the wait for a follow-up to 2021’s Solar Power could soon be over. 

The musical snippet, which includes skittish drums and a sustained synth, suggests that Lorde is set to back away from the indie-folk-pop sound of her previous record and give us something more electronic.

The photo dump includes a photo of US producer Jim-E Stack (Bon Iver, Empress Of, Charli XCX) that features the word “collaboration”, so we’re guessing that he’s been helping her with that.

Other familiar faces in the Instagram story include (we think) Fabiana Palladino, who released her own critically acclaimed solo album earlier this year, and Gracie Abrams, who released her second long-player last month.

One person who’s absent from the photos is Jack Antonoff, who worked with Lorde on both Solar Power and her 2021 sophomore album Melodrama. Whether this means he’s not involved remains to be seen.

It’s not clear when we can expect to hear more of what Lorde’s been up to, but the video of her in the studio features the words “will be back in touch”, so we probably won’t have to wait too long.