A Song For Friday: This Is Lorelei
The latest album from Nate Amos' solo project is full of variety and warmth
Whether on record or on stage, Nate Amos is an icon of cool in Water From Your Eyes, his project with Rachel Brown, who is fully his equal in sangfroid. For their sleek stuff, he constructs up-to-the-minute beats with layers of guitar, synth, and bass for Brown to float her deadpan vocals over in a killer formula that landed their last album on my 2023 Top 25.
In This Is Lorelei, his ten-year-old solo project, however, he shows off some different, often warmer sides of his music-making. Box For Buddy, Box For Star, the latest Lorelei album, even starts with a country weeper, Angel Eyes, that wouldn’t sound unfamiliar to Hank Williams. Later in the album we get Two Legs, a chill-inducing Elliott Smith homage. There are also some more expected sounds, such as the bedroom electro-pop of A Perfect Hand, and Dancing In The Club, an autotune-laden track that does what it says on the tin.
But perhaps the most surprising - and instantly satisfying - song is the AM-ready classic rock of A Song That Sings About You, filled with sparkling guitar arpeggios, crunchy power chords, and a sense of relaxed mastery. Give it a listen and tell me if it doesn’t make you want to roll the windows down and drive past some old haunts as you remember old friends and lovers and the things you used to do together.
The lyrics capture the feeling perfectly, in a slightly loopy but heartfelt stream of consciousness:
and i don’t know where my past has been
but my future’s been here all along
it’s a galaxy that sings to me about you
the stars all sing about you
and each word is a melody
and each melody is a mystery to me
it’s a secret song they sing to me about you
a song that sings about you
Does this song sing about you? Or at least to you? Let me know in the comments and make sure to spin or stream the whole album - it’s a winner.
From the archives:
Best Of 2023: The Top 25
Record Roundup: Guitar (Usually) And Pen
Live Log 2023: Summer Catchup Pt. 2
The graphic above is based on a photo by OK McCausland
Great tune! Love the lyrics.