Lande Hekt, the celebrated underground songwriter and former Muncie Girls frontwoman, has released “Favourite Pair of Shoes,” the sparkling first single from her upcoming album, Lucky Now, due out January 30th, 2026, on Tapete Records.
Following her critically praised solo records, Going To Hell (2021) and House Without a View (2022)—which featured support acts like Alvvays and The Beths—Lucky Now finds Hekt at her most mature and self-assured. She shares, “I’ve tried to think less about how things are coming across, and just write songs that make me feel connected to myself and what I value.”
“Favourite Pair of Shoes” immediately captures this new outlook. Inspired by the jangle-pop of The Bats and The Chills, the track is deceptively upbeat. “Despite the lines that lean towards despair, I think this is quite a hopeful song,” Hekt explains. “It’s about rising out of a pit of hopelessness and doing something really positive.” The song features her old friend and longtime collaborator, Samuel Bedford, whose voice blends seamlessly with Hekt’s signature conversational indie-pop.
She shared:
I wrote this song when I was listening to a lot of The Bats and The Chills, it probably sounds nothing like any of that Flying Nun stuff but that was what was inspiring me at the time. Despite the lines that lean towards despair, I think this is quite a hopeful song. It’s about rising out of a pit of hopelessness and doing something really positive. The song features my old friend and longtime collaborator Samuel Bedford. We first sang together when we were 16, we recorded a song together for his folk solo project, then we were in an indie rock band together when we were 21 called Selfish Son. Sam sang on my song Kitchen in 2020 and now he sings on this song and Coming Home. Each of these collaborations are 5 years apart which is tidy.
Watch the accompanying video, created by David Goodchild and filmed on Dartmoor and in Exeter in September 2025.
Written and recorded with producer Matthew Simms (Wire, It Hugs Back), the album leans into ’80s twee-pop and jangle-pop, with influences from The Pastels and Tallulah Gosh. This ecstatic, soaring sound is the perfect vehicle for Hekt’s lyrical pivot toward finding gratitude and joy.
From the simple domestic love of “Kitchen ii” to the political call-to-action on “Circular,” Lucky Now is about returning to what matters—joy, home, and the self. “Favourite Pair of Shoes” is a vibrant, melodic first step into this new chapter.