The Marías’ María Zardoya unveiled her lush solo project Not for Radio last October with the full-length Melt, an effort she described at the time as an “alternate reality” where she could challenge herself “to make a project that resonated with me in a different way.” She kicked off 2026 taking these new songs on the road for a series of intimate dates dubbed “Not for Radio Presents: Winter in the Garden,” including three nights at the United Theater on Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles this past weekend (a fourth date was just added for Tuesday, January 27, benefitting the National Day Laborer Organizing Network).
Performing on an elevated grassy platform, the set was presented in three parts (five songs per section), including all of the songs from Melt, a new track not on the album (“Ache”), The Marías’ “No One Noticed,” and a cover of Radiohead’s “Nude.” “Thank you so much for coming to the first Not for Radio tour,” Zardoya wrote in the show’s program. “This album was written just one year ago, in January, in snowy Upstate New York. Touring it during the same time of year it was written felt important to me—so you could feel what the air felt like as we made these songs: the cold on our skin, the freshness of a new year, and the calm of introspection. This show is a reinterpretation of Swan Lake. Be fully present, and allow yourself to feel whatever emotions arise.”
FLOOD photographer Eric Tra captured visuals from the night—check those out below.
