Seth Nyquist, better known as MorMor, used to work in isolation. This self-contained process led to his 2018 breakout song “Heaven’s Only Wishful,” a stunningly singular ballad that stopped the world in its tracks and brought him personal praise from both Max Martin’s MXM Music and Steven Malkmus. His debut album Semblance, written and recorded during the pandemic lockdowns, followed in 2022. For his new era, however, collaboration is key. “Working alone sucks,” he says with a laugh, shaking his head at how things used to be. “It’s torturous and isolating.”

The days of detachment in this new era and in their place is a feeling of letting go and allowing others in. Celeste, the Brit and Mercury Prize nominee, appears on the brand new single “Like Heaven.” Her voice sits perfectly alongside Nyquist’s cut-glass tenor, arriving like an intoxicating cloud of smoke and pushing a song about finding hope in faithless times to truly ascend. Celeste’s involvement was unplanned. “She came to [Rick Rubin’s Malibu studio] Shangri-La simply to hang out, but ended up jumping on the mix,” he says. “Her vocalwas recorded in that first session and it remains in the final version. She captured a raw, immediate energy that couldn’t be recreated.”

MorMor headlines the ICA this January.