Lael Neale’s 2023 album ‘Star Eaters Delight’ caught my attention thanks to a sound that authentically referenced some of my most beloved eras, that Warhol New York art scene of the sixties and the colourful girl beat-pop from the era especially, but with plenty of dirge-like drone to counterbalance the sweetness. This new follow-up, though, is an absolute delight in how it develops those ideas into something quite special. In a newsletter ahead of this release, Lael addresses her own battles between a reluctance to integrate and a desire to fit in. She writes, “I notice a slow and steady conformity set in as musicians become legitimate. I do it too. How else would we fit into the font, size and waveform of streaming services? I rebel in minute ways – like refusing to follow a recipe.” I would argue that on Altogether Stranger, Lael has cooked up a concoction of her own that will be ripe for inspiration to many others before too long.
Opener Wild Waters is fuelled by a decidedly early eighties-sounding motoric tempo, punctuated by the sound of synthesised hand clapping, which is all in stark contrast to the lolling wavy gravy of the melody line, which is rather heavenly and lovely. One thing that stood out for me on Lael’s last album was how she so effortlessly captures some kind of Velvet Underground spirit in her music, and it is here again too, as the little gliding guitar figure enters and departs before the songs end, I’m asking was that a glimpse of the Velvet’s Ocean that just flew past? All Good Things Will Come To Pass enters with some steam train chugging guitar as the repeatedly sung title line makes for a pure fairground delight of a chorus hook. The juxtaposition of celebration and loss is central to the magic at play in Lael Neale’s music and those elements of light and shade are set to the foreground here to stunning effect. Down On The Freeway suggests a nod to the mechanical motion in the work of Krautrock masters like Kraftwerk. Minimalism presented as a cloak for music with real depth, a kind of primitive ingenuity that leaves plenty of space and stretched-out pathways for shades and tones to drift on through.
The gentle touch of Lael’s Omnichord ushers in a lullaby yawn for Sleep Through The Long Night, itself a contradiction for as serene as it is, as much as you might be inclined to close your eyes and look up to a dream of meteor showers, the lyric is one of cityscape dissonance as Lael sings “my mind is a jumble of sirens and stop lights, the traffic is static no station to heaven, I’m heavy as plastic in the belly Atlantic”. Come On is brighter but not without cramped agitation as Lael reaches for her highest register and evokes notions of a bird in a cage rattling at the bars to get free. Tell Me How To Be Here stands out as an album centre point, it builds from an audio echo chamber of pressure as shooting stars cascade and Lael calls for help amidst her search for a sense of belonging and purpose, “tell me how to be here, can you help me be here right?”. The song rises, then fades to a climax as tiny shards of light begin to break through the cracks.
New Ages is born with an irresistible trebly guitar burst and a tangible sense of triumph. It is a flag waver; a kind of swaying anthem but not in the arena rock sense, more the sort of thing a Jesus & Mary Chain or others schooled in the aesthetics of garage rock would produce; it stares into its own fringe rather than stamping its foot on a monitor. All Is Never Lost appears out of thin air, sounding weightlessly formed, as if it arrived from the dream state Lael was searching so hard for in track four. The way she uses drone and sustained keys is quite mesmerising throughout this album, and they are especially lush on this track. It leads to the final song on what feels like a teasingly brief 32-minute record, but that is not meant as a criticism; over-long albums are far more problematic than ones like this, which leave you wanting more. Closer, There From Here, is sung over a simple three-note piano figure and once again, Lael sings as a lullaby a song that wrestles with frustration in the push and pull of where we are and where we want to be. The same loose and taut tension is the very lifeblood circulating throughout this wonderful record, an exquisitely crafted masterclass in retro minimalism and free expression.
Altogether Stranger (May 2nd, 2025) Sub-Pop
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The Altogether Stranger : a visual accompaniment to the album “Altogether Stranger” by Lael Neale: