Nostalgic, introspective, and dreamy. In Airports is the upcoming album by Atlanta-based artist Thomas Howard, best known as Orchid Mantis. Blurring the lines between ambient pop, shoegaze, and bedroom indie, Howard turns imperfection into emotion. His music lives somewhere between waking and dreaming, lo-fi transmissions that feel found on a forgotten cassette rather than released into the world.
I first discovered Orchid Mantis in 2019 with Cop Lights, and I’ve been a fan ever since. I’ve always been drawn to songs that capture emotions we can’t fully explain, and Howard has mastered that art. In Airports, there is no exception. I listened to the two singles currently available on Bandcamp, and each one feels like a snapshot, not of a specific moment, but of a feeling that slips through words. There’s loneliness, there’s warmth, and that peculiar ache of remembering something you’re not sure ever really happened. It’s the kind of music that makes you crave the rest of the record.
“A few years ago, I found myself stuck in an airport for about a week, spending every day walking around the terminals, watching people come and go. I’d always liked the transient feeling of temporary spaces like that,” Howard explains. “I think a lot of people live their lives in airports. Stuck, waiting for something just over the horizon. Travellers come into their lives and leave when the time is right, but they just keep waiting.”
What makes Orchid Mantis so captivating is how personal it sounds. The music doesn’t demand attention; it invites you in quietly. It’s the soundtrack to long walks at dusk, late nights alone with headphones, or that quiet introspection that only arrives once the world outside has gone still.
If you love artists like Alex G, Ricky Eat Acid, Planning for Burial, or Mid-Air Thief, Orchid Mantis sits in that same emotional, lo-fi constellation, gentle, surreal, and always achingly human. The full album drops on November 7th, but you can already check out two of its singles here:
Written by Joshua Cotrim
