Sylvan Esso Make Peace With the Endless on Ow ∞
Theodora Gatsacos
Writer
September 15, 2026
Indie duo Sylvan Esso returns with their fifth studio album, Ow ∞, the first album released on their independent label, Psychic Hotline. The Grammy-nominated duo, consisting of married couple Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, candidly opens up about the pains of life and the struggle to keep going.
Ow ∞ has the duo reflecting on the tragic events that happened before and during their work on the album. Before work on the album began, Meath learned that her close friend and former roommate was dying and paid tribute to her in Jessica, a song about grief and holding onto memories. While creating the album in 2024, Meath and Sanborn fled their home in North Carolina to avoid Hurricane Helene. They ended up in California to continue work on Ow ∞, only to leave again due to the 2025 wildfires. This experience echoes through the song Flood Season, which references evacuation and grabbing everything you can, including memories, to escape a hurricane’s destruction.
The album opens with Entertainment & Coca-Cola, a commentary on how people turn to consumerist comforts to distract themselves from the world’s issues. Given that this album reflects on the endless, painful loop of everyday life, the opening track sets the stage for the message Sylvan Esso wants to send.
Hot Slob, which served as one of the prerelease singles, is a catchy, grunge- and garage-band-style song about embracing the chaos of life and “living in the glitch,” a phrase used to reference soaking in the craziest moments. Concrete Glen continues the “chaos of life” motif, sampling Sigur Rós’s Svefn-g-englar and recounting a crazy night out turned surreal.
Back Again transitions the album back to the pains of life theme. Ribbon references the passing of Meath’s friend and goes back and forth between being grateful that life goes on and wondering, “When does it fucking end?” Sylvan Esso explains these contradictions in an interview with Paste Magazine, where they describe these two extremes as what it means to live life and explain why the album is structured like an infinity loop.
Sledge reflects on how hopeless life can feel. With references to rising sea levels, global warming and things falling apart, the duo wants to be the ones to break everything with a sledge and “Destroy, destroy, destroy” in order to start anew. The album cover reinforces this imagery, featuring Meath with a sledgehammer resting on her shoulders. Good at Pain follows up on these feelings of hopelessness, the desire to escape and how humanity continues despite the trials and tribulations it faces.
On & On, another prerelease single, was described by Meath in a TikTok as possibly “my favorite song that I have written.”
Another song about how life seemingly continues despite hardships, this track specifically focuses on how each person’s life has so many stories. Meath chooses one of her own stories for this song, describing the first time she had “good sex” and how she felt during and after it.
The album’s outro, Plastic Sword, features minimal background music, with Meath’s vocals over a vocoder taking the spotlight. Though the duo doesn’t have much — a “plastic sword” and “projected wings” — they are ready to continue taking on the trials of life and keep going despite the pain.
Overall, the outro of Right to Left sums up the themes of Ow ∞: “even when it hurts, even when you cry, even when you can’t no more and you wish that you would die, even when it hurts, even when you cry, even when you can’t, keep on knowing why, you go.” The album tells a beautiful narrative of pain, grief and starting anew. Sylvan Esso has proven that, through the grief, they are ready to continue through the endless merry-go-round.
Edited by: Jade Read
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