Hunter As a Horse signs to Metropolis Records and drops new single ‘Lighthouse’
Hunter As a Horse signs to Metropolis Records and drops new single 'Lighthouse'
Hunter As a Horse, the South African dark electronic project of vocalist and songwriter Mia van Wyk, releases the new single “Lighthouse” today, 30 January 2026, as her first release for Metropolis Records.
The single is an extremely personal piece that connects Jungian psychology and mythology with lived experience. Inspired by Carl Jung’s concept of “shadow work”, van Wyk’s idea is that only those who have been broken can fully read another’s darkness. She explains: “One who was broken and is now healed has greater power to lead the broken through the dark night of the soul because they know the territory,” adding that she is “ignoring every warning about how you can’t save someone and declaring that I can” and that the song is “about fearlessly challenging somebody else’s demons.”
About Hunter As a Horse
“Always greet a ghost with a handkerchief, otherwise it will leave a black mark on your hand.” So said the grandmother of Mia Van Wyk who, after experiencing a family tragedy on a rural farm in South Africa’s Free State, took to writing songs and playing the guitar “only because I didn’t know what else to do with death.”
Hunter As a Horse began in the early 2010s as a duo formed in London by South African vocalist and guitarist Mia van Wyk and producer Paul Gala, who handled piano, synths and machines. The pair relocated from London to Berlin and later undertook a year-long self-imposed exile in rural Italy, writing material.
The first substantial release under the name was the EP “The Two Magics Vol.1”, issued digitally in April 2016 via Valley Of Fire Recordings. The five-track release, featuring songs such as “The Passenger”, “Dead Stars”, “The Abyss”, “Fallen Leaves” and “A Million Julys”, bringing a blend of synth-driven storytelling and indietronica. A second release, “The Two Magics Vol.2”, followed in July 2017.
In parallel with these EPs, Hunter As a Horse saw individual songs being placed in television and media. The track “The Passenger” appeared in the pilot episode “Chapter One: The River’s Edge” of the US TV series Riverdale. Subsequent placements saw the music used in US shows such as American Horror Story and in commercials, including campaigns for Mercedes Benz, as well as in the trailer for the feature film Wander Darkly and, later, in episodes of the Netflix series Elite.
After a period of relative quiet, Hunter As a Horse returned in 2019 with the four-track EP “Walk With Fire”. Released in April/May 2019 and credited to Hunter As a Horse, the EP included the title track “Walk With Fire”, “New Light”, a cinematic mix of “The Abyss” and “The Drums”.
From 2023 onwards, the project signed to Bad Future Records, a Johannesburg-based label co-founded to handle both Hunter As a Horse releases and other artists. The 8-track “The Lost Tapes EP” appeared in August 2023, presenting songs such as “Tomorrow Never Knows”, “The Train”, “We Will Meet Again”, “Your Darkest Hour” and “Stone Fox”.
In 2025, Hunter As a Horse released the EP “ANATHEMA”, a six-track set issued on 11 April 2025 via Bad Future and distributed digitally by Ditto Music. The EP includes “Anathema”, “To Be Evil”, “Fallen”, “I Cast You Out” and further tracks. What followed were sync deals, a sold-out NFT drop with Opulous and further placements in international adverts and TV series.
By late 2025, they released “Dark Sky” and the full-length “VISIONS (deluxe) LP which comprised tracks from the “ANATHEMA” EP and related sessions.
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