Track Of The Day 1/2 – Lael Neale

Lockdown brought huge changes to all our lives. For Lael Neale, it meant an abrupt relocation, taking her from LA to her family’s farm, out in rural Virginia. With this shift in her life, space began to enter into her music, gradually changing it.

2020 debut album ‘Acquainted With Night’ outlined her minimalist indie pop palette, but new album ‘Star Eaters Delight’ – out on April 21st via Sub Pop – is something else entirely. Constructed alongside producer Blakeslee, the recordings were made directly to cassette in Virginia, before being mastered by Chris Coady at his LA studio.

New song ‘I Am The River’ illustrates where Lael Neale is heading – reminiscent of everyone from Lou Reed to the keyboard-drone of Suicide, it’s backed by those angelic vocals, betraying a pop influence while still being fascinating, clipped, and ultra-repetitive.

You can hear parallels to the Flying Nun stable, but there’s also a nod to her Virginia roots in there, too. Oh, and do make time to catch Lael Neale at Manchester’s Castle Hotel on May 15th, and London’s Lexington on May 16th.

Tune in now.

Photo Credit: Alexandra Cabal