Since November, Heather Woods Broderick has been slowly rolling out Labyrinth, her first singer-songwriter album since 2019. (She did release an instrumental cello album called Domes last year.) First came the teaser track “Blood Run Through Me” last fall, then “Crashing Against The Sun” arrived with album details in January. Today she’s back with a third single from the new LP.

Broderick says “Admiration” is inspired by ’90s hip-hop and the synths of late ’80s Phil Collins. That makes some kind of sense, but the warm and textured electro-organic ballad reminds me more of something like Beth Orton. The song was written in Oregon during the wildfires in 2020. Here’s more from Broderick:

I was scared and missing my partner, not knowing whether I should evacuate or which road I’d have the best chance to get out on. Amidst my fear and feelings of helplessness amplifying the current state of the world, I was also remembering what I have to be grateful for – trying to use fear and uncertainty as a vehicle for hope.

Listen below.