Acquainted With Night

Lael’s new album Acquainted With Night is a testament to this poetic devotion. Stripped of any extraneous word or sound, the songs are lit by Lael’s crystalline voice which lays on a lush bed of Omnichord. The collection touches on themes that have been thread into her work for years: isolation, mortality, yearning, and reaching ever toward the transcendent experience. Lael grew up on a farm in rural Virginia, but for nearly 10 years called Los Angeles home. Those years were spent developing her songwriting and performing in venues across the city, but the right way to record the songs proved more elusive. She says, “Every time I reached the end of recording, I felt the songs had been stripped of their vitality in the process of layering drums, bass, guitar, violin, and organ over them. They felt weighed down.” In a moment of illumination the solution presented itself: do the simple thing. In early 2019, in the midst of major transition, she acquired a new instrument, the omnichord, and began recording a deluge of songs. Guy Blakeslee, who had been an advocate for years, set up a cassette recorder in her bedroom and provided empathic guidance, subtle yet affecting accompaniment and engineering prowess. Limited to only 4-tracks and first takes, Lael had to surrender some of her perfectionism to deliver the songs in their essence. While Lael returned to her family farm in April 2020, Los Angeles is a player on this album, and “Every Star Shivers in the Dark” is an ode to the sp

Tracks

1~1~Gathering Of The Tribes
1~2~Wherza Money At
1~3~Human River
1~4~Whats He Gonna Say Today
1~5~Brazos River Blues
1~6~We Don't Care
1~7~Black Brown And White
1~8~Listen For The Spirit
1~9~Hoist Up The Banner
1~10~Mami Wata
1~11~Send Me Your Jesus
1~12~A Room For You
1~13~Remember Family
1~14~Race And Equality
1~15~Grateful
1~16~All Because
1~17~Spirit Day
1~18~Let God
1~19~Last Night I Had A Dream
1~20~Picture A New World
1~21~New Friends
1~22~Mole In The Ground
1~23~Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
1~24~Needed Time

Details

Format: CD
Artist: Lael Neale
Release Date: 26 February 2021
Genre: Alternative
Label: Sub Pop Records
Distributor: Inertia Music