In late August, María Zardoya began posting a series of quiet voice notes for fans on Spotify, guiding them gently toward Not for Radio , a project she formed outside of her breakthrough band the Marías . She wanted to welcome people into an entire world she’d built — an “alternate reality,” as she describes it, where she could let intimate, deeply felt ideas about love, loss, and letting go truly unfold.

What she created is Melt , a lush, labyrinthine landscape, rooted in lessons and healing from the natural world. But to understand the weight of the album, it helps to know a little bit about the Marías own lore and discography: On the band’s last album, 2024’s stunning, blue-hued Submarine , Zardoya and her longtime partner and drummer Josh Conway had broken up, which meant th

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