Brendan Pegg’s new single In the Dark magnetizes attention by quietly dimming the lights until you can’t help but lean closer. The Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter has been carving out a sound that sits between indie folk intimacy and atmospheric pop expansiveness, and this track feels like the most refined version of that balance so far.
The first thing you notice is how bare it feels, not in a way that’s lacking, but in the way a clear night sky is bare: stripped of clutter, sharp enough to sting, and wide enough to hold everything you project into it. A fingerpicked guitar forms the backbone, steady and unshowy, leaving plenty of space for Pegg’s voice to take the foreground. That voice is the song’s anchor, carrying the kind of emotional urgency that recalls Dermot Kennedy’s gravelly passion while also evoking the hushed vulnerability of Phoebe Bridgers. It’s a difficult needle to thread of intensity without shouting, fragility without collapsing and Pegg makes it feel effortless.
Lyrically, In the Dark isn’t trying to reinvent the breakup song or the late-night confession. What makes it work is the honesty with which it’s delivered. The words are plainspoken but pointed, leaning into the universal feeling of staring at the ceiling at 2 a.m., when emotions feel sharpest and clarity comes hand-in-hand with loneliness. Rather than dressing these feelings up in metaphor, Pegg keeps them grounded, and that restraint is what makes them cut deeper.
The production deserves attention, too. It’s restrained, but never static. Subtle layers creep in around the edges like a swell of reverb here, a faint atmospheric pad there; just enough to shift the track from coffeehouse minimalism into something more cinematic. The effect is that In the Dark works as well in headphones during a solitary walk as it would soundtracking a moody indie film montage.
What ultimately sells the track is its commitment to mood. Pegg doesn’t overplay his hand or chase a big radio-ready chorus. Instead, he leans into tension, letting the spaces between words and chords carry just as much meaning as the notes themselves. It’s music built for late-night playlists, yes, but it doesn’t feel disposable; there’s a sincerity that lingers after the last chord fades.
With In the Dark, Brendan Pegg proves he doesn’t need elaborate arrangements or glossy studio tricks to connect. All he needs is a guitar, a voice, and the courage to sit with difficult feelings until they resonate. And that resonance is what makes the song worth returning to, long after the night ends.
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About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for publications in the US and former lead writer of Atop The Treehouse. Reviews music, film and TV shows for media aggregators.
