Idioteque Returns With Bâlâ Collaboration ‘If These Walls Could Talk’

Idioteque returns from a break of more than a year with ‘If These Walls Could Talk’, a new single featuring Bâlâ.

The song centres on recognising a harmful domestic situation and reaching the point where departure cannot be put off any longer. Idioteque frames it around claustrophobia, vulnerability and psychological abuse, moving from emotional confinement towards the possibility of escape.

Its arrangement follows that same path. Electronic programming and live instrumentation underpin reverse vocals, intimate harmonies and lead-guitar arpeggios, gathering intensity before guitars take over the final section. Alongside its trip hop and slowcore foundations, that closing release draws on shoegaze and alternative rock.

Bâlâ provides the vocals and co-wrote the lyrics with Idioteque, while Sam Thorne played drums and percussion. Idioteque handled the music’s writing, production, engineering, mixing and mastering.

The collaboration continues Idioteque’s practice of working with a rotating line-up of vocalists, each adding a different perspective to the wider collective. On stage, those voices are accompanied by drums, guitars, programmed atmospheres and sampled dialogue, with visuals taken from classic films and video games.

‘If These Walls Could Talk’ comes after the 2025 EP A Stone's Throw From Home and ‘34,33’, a collaboration with Isa Sin. Idioteque was named on our 2026 Hype List and has also received airplay from BBC Radio and FIP.