Since the early 1990s, the Japanese-born Kazu Makino has been the voice of Blonde Redhead, perfecting a weightless, ethereal style that’s often imitated and rarely equaled. This year, Makino will release her first solo album, Adult Baby, which finds her moving away from rock instrumentation in favor of synthesizers, samplers, and looping techniques. First single “Salty” hovers between a pop song and a fluid electronic composition, underlining gentle pulsations with sine-wave synths and a quietly insistent drumbeat.

Having relocated to escape stress and pollution in New York City, Makino wrote her new songs at home on the Italian island of Elba, inspired by the calm of a seaside environment. “Salty” speaks particularly to her passion for equestrianism; the lyrics officially include two horse emojis. “Eyes talk, my mind/Led by whatever you do...move,” she sings, an impressionistic capture of the nonverbal bond between horse and rider. Like a long summer sunset, “Salty” spends a third of its time winding down, but as the synthesizer devolves into pointillist blips and Makino begins to mix fragments of English with Japanese, her style remains unmistakable.