The second album from the Sudanese American musician is a study in contrasts—mind versus body, destruction versus renewal, our supposedly organized society versus the wild natural world. Following their 2024 full-length debut (I SHOULD CALL THEM, also released on Ghostly International), Dua Saleh drew inspiration for Of Earth & Wires from a series of natural disasters that seemed to follow them around the globe: wildfires near their home in Los Angeles; climate-related flooding in Cardiff, Wales, while filming the TV series Sex Education. Across songs that pull from R&B, indie rock, and club music, the chaos of the world is a backdrop and a mirror for Saleh’s own sexy and capricious relationship drama. Executive-produced by Billy Lemos, whose credits include SZA and Tinashe, the sounds match the mood: Wildfires blaze just out of frame on “Firestorm,” an earthy, funky R&B jam, while bossa nova meets drum ’n’ bass on the will-they-or-won’t-they “Cállate.” Frequent collaborator Bon Iver joins Saleh for three separate features, contributing hooks to “Flood” and the woozy after-hours number “Glow,” plus backing vocals on the sweaty, sultry “Keep Away.” But it’s Saleh’s striking falsetto that underlies the chaos with hope. “Didn’t you know/Ain’t no cure for the sun/So let it beat down on you/Maybe you can heal,” they sing on “I Do, I Do,” releasing themself into the world—untamed, unpredictable, sublime.