Today, Wednesday, March 26th Lael Neale is sharing “Down On The Freeway,” her new Motorik-powered single and official video. The track is a standout from Altogether Stranger, her expansive forthcoming new album, out May 2nd, 2025 worldwide on Sub Pop.
Neale offers this on the song and its haute visual, which she stars in and also directed:
“This song is specific to Los Angeles. The drum machine really wrote the song. It conjures the endless sea of cars. Moving, bottlenecked, bumper to bumper. I’m always amazed that so many of us have somewhere to go. The video appeared in my mind’s eye as soon as we recorded the song. I saw that cars on the freeway are like people walking in a fashion show, pacing back and forth. The fashion show is the epitome of movement going nowhere. The video is a part of a larger story being told by the album and accompanying film, in which my character is an alien bewildered by the modern way of life on Earth. The QR code I ingest at the end of this video suggests that humanity is caught up in an escapist fantasy of techno-consumerism.”
Lael Neale’s headlining and festival date run for Spring and Summer 2025 in support of Altogether Stranger has been extended. In April, Neale and bandmate Blakeslee will perform two US album release shows – Thursday, April 10th in Los Angeles at Zebulon, and Friday, April 25th in New York City, NY at Public Records.
Then, in May, they’ll head over to the UK and EU, beginning May 10th in Dublin, IE at Workman’s Cellar and running through Saturday, June 14th in Hilvarenbeek, NL at Best Kept Secret Festival. Highlights for this announcement include support on headlining shows from collaborator Guy Blakeslee as Entrance (select dates*, May 10th-June 12th); A new in-store at London’s Rough Trade East (May 2nd); EU festival appearances at Stockholm’s Echo Three Fest (May 24th), and Guastalla, IT’s Handmade Festival (June 8th). Tickets for these shows are on sale now,
Thu. Apr. 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon*
Fri. Apr. 25 - New York City, NY - Public Records*
Fri. May 02 - London, UK - Rough Trade East
Sat. May 10 - Dublin, IE - Workman’s Cellar *
Sun. May 11 - Belfast, UK - McHughs *
Wed. May 14 - Lausanne, CH - Le Romandie*
Thu. May 15 - Dijon, FR - La Vapeur *
Fri. May 16 - Paris, FR - Le Hasard Ludique *
Sat. May 17 - Brussels, BE - Les Nuits Botanique
Mon. May 19 - Amsterdam, NL - DOKA *
Tue. May 20 - Hamburg, DE - Nachtasyl *
Wed. May 21 - Berlin, DE - Kantine am Berghain *
Fri. May 23 - Copenhagen, DK - Huset
Sat. May 24 - Stockholm, SE - Echo Three Fest
Tue. May 27 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana *
Wed. May 28 - London, UK - Omeara *
Thu. May 29 - Manchester, UK - YES Basement *
Fri. May 30 - Newcastle, UK - Cumberland Arms *
Sat. May 31 - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint *
Sun.Jun 08 - Guastalla, IT - Handmade Festival
Thu. Jun.12 - Luxembourg, LU - Rotondes *
Sat. Jun. 14 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret Festival
The songs on Lael Neale’s Altogether Stranger, which includes “Tell Me How To Here,” “Wild Waters,” and the aforementioned “Down On The Freeway,” were written by Neale. The album was produced and mixed by Blakeslee at home in Los Angeles and mastered by Chris Coady.
Altogether Stranger is available to preorder on CD/LP/All DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com (North America), MM2 (in UK/EU), your local record store and at Neale’s live shows will receive the limited Loser edition on Lavender (NA) and Magenta (UK/EU) vinyl. There is also a special edition available through Rough Trade in the UK and EU on Cream White vinyl (All LP colors whilst stock lasts!).
More on Lael Neale’s Altogether Stranger:
Lael Neale’s minimalist drone pop draws inspiration from the Transcendentalists, the alienation of modern life, and a rich array of musical influences—ranging from Dionne Warwick and John Lennon to primitive American gospel and Spacemen 3. Her expansive new record, Altogether Stranger, was written and recorded in the early morning quiet of Los Angeles. Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the 9-song LP covers an unexpected breadth of musical and lyrical terrain—from garage rock nursery rhymes and creation myths to Motorik dance dirges and solitary Omnichord meditations. A brilliant lyricist, Neale has a unique ability to uncover the extraordinary within the mundane, tackling themes of polarity that recur throughout her work—country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, isolation vs. society. This album is her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee who helps expand the tonal palette while staying true to Neale’s commitment to the raw immediacy and hand-made intimacy of home recording (read more at Sub Pop).

Lael Neale
Altogether Stranger
1. Wild Waters
2. All Good Things Will Come To Pass
3. Down On The Freeway
4. Sleep Through The Long Night
5. Come On
6. Tell Me How To Be Here
7. New Ages
8. All Is Never Lost
9. There From Here
Today, Lael Neale is sharing details on behalf of
Altogether Stranger, her expansive forthcoming new album, out May 2nd, 2025 worldwide on Sub Pop.
Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the 9-song LP covers an unexpected breadth of musical and lyrical terrain—from garage rock nursery rhymes and creation myths to Motorik dance dirges and solitary Omnichord meditations. A brilliant lyricist, Neale has a unique ability to uncover the extraordinary within the mundane, tackling themes of polarity that recur throughout her work—country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, isolation vs. society. This album is her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee who helps expand the tonal palette while staying true to Neale’s commitment to the raw immediacy and hand-made intimacy of home recording.
Lead offering
“Tell Me How To Be Here” paints a stark and haunting portrait of Neale’s return to Los Angeles after 3 years living in rural Virginia. It transmutes a dissociative unease into a woozy, dreamlike reverie, echoing the Velvet Underground with the distant chime of “Sunday Morning” bells. Neale’s crystalline voice floats above Blakeslee’s ambient tape loops and ghostly, disintegrating Mellotron, evoking the disorientation of waking up in a world that feels so ordinary it becomes strange. Its official video, which is directed by and stars the singer, captures the song’s kindred spirit. It was filmed by Neale and Blakeslee in Los Angeles.
The songs on
Altogether Stranger, which include “Down On The Freeway,” “Wild Waters,” and the aforementioned “Tell Me How To Here,” were written by Neale. The album was produced and mixed by Blakeslee at home in Los Angeles and mastered by Chris Coady.
Altogether Stranger is available to preorder on CD/LP/All DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from
megamart.subpop.com (North America),
MM2 (in UK/EU),
your local record store and at Neale’s live shows will receive the limited Loser edition on Lavender (NA) and Magenta (UK/EU) vinyl. There is also a special edition available through Rough Trade in the UK and EU on Cream White vinyl (
All LP colors whilst stock lasts!).
Lael Neale will support
Altogether Stranger with headlining spring tour dates for April and May 2025. In April, Neale and bandmate Blakeslee have two album US release shows – Thursday, April 10th in Los Angeles at Zebulon, and Friday, April 25th in New York City, NY at Public Records. Then, in May, they’ll head over to the UK and EU, beginning May 10th in Dublin, IE at Workman’s Cellar and ending Saturday, May 31st in Glasgow, UK at Hug & Pint. Tickets
for these shows are on sale now.
Thu. Apr. 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon
Fri. Apr. 25 - New York City, NY - Public Records
Sat. May 10 - Dublin, IE - Workman’s Cellar
Sun. May 11 - Belfast, UK - McHughs
Wed. May 14 - Lausanne, CH - Le Romandie
Thu. May 15 - Dijon, FR - La Vapeur
Fri. May 16 - Paris, FR - Le Hasard Ludique
Sat. May 17 - Brussels, BE - Les Nuits Botanique
Mon. May 19 - Amsterdam, NL - DOKA
Tue. May 20 - Hamburg, DE - Nachtasyl
Wed. May 21 - Berlin, DE - Kantine am Berghain
Fri. May 23 - Copenhagen, DK - Huset
Sat. May 24 - Stockholm, SE - Echo Three Fest
Tue. May 27 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana
Wed. May 28 - London, UK - Omeara
Thu. May 29 - Manchester, UK - YES Basement
Fri. May 30 - Newcastle, UK - Cumberland Arms
Sat. May 31 - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint
About Lael Neale’s Altogether Stranger:
Lael Neale’s minimalist drone pop draws inspiration from the Transcendentalists, the alienation of modern life, and a rich array of musical influences—ranging from Dionne Warwick and John Lennon to primitive American gospel and Spacemen 3. Her expansive new record,
Altogether Stranger, was written and recorded in the early morning quiet of Los Angeles. Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the 9-song LP covers an unexpected breadth of musical and lyrical terrain—from garage rock nursery rhymes and creation myths to Motorik dance dirges and solitary Omnichord meditations. A brilliant lyricist, Neale has a unique ability to uncover the extraordinary within the mundane, tackling themes of polarity that recur throughout her work—country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, isolation vs. society. This album is her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee who helps expand the tonal palette while staying true to Neale’s commitment to the raw immediacy and hand-made intimacy of home recording.
Reflecting on her lo-fi, D.I.Y. ethos
in her newsletter Consensual Sound, she writes: “I love doing things the wrong way. It’s so rare that we get to do that in life. Even as artists, 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 & waveform of streaming services. I rebel in minute ways—like refusing to follow a recipe. In the end, I’m just like everyone else: I want to belong.”
Altogether Stranger was conceived after three years of oscillating between rural solitude and urban chaos. Neale explains: “On returning to Los Angeles I felt like an extraterrestrial landing on a dystopian planet so I’m writing from the perspective of a being from another realm witnessing the peculiarities of humanity.” The album finds Neale perched at the piano in a hilltop bungalow, looking down on a rare curve of Sunset Blvd. Here, in this daily ritual of writing, singing, and painting—what David Lynch referred to as
“the Art Life”—she creates the space for her most adventurous work to date.
The album’s centerpiece,
“Tell Me How to Be Here
,” paints a stark and haunting portrait of her return to Los Angeles, transmuting a dissociative unease into a woozy, dreamlike reverie, echoing the Velvet Underground with the distant chime of “Sunday Morning” bells. Neale’s crystalline voice floats above Blakeslee’s ambient tape loops and ghostly, disintegrating Mellotron, evoking the disorientation of waking up in a world that feels so ordinary it becomes strange.
Born and raised in Virginia’s idyllic countryside, Neale brought the high-lonesome sound of her home state with her when she moved to California to pursue music. After years of writing songs on guitar and playing small venues in Los Angeles, she discovered the Omnichord in 2019, which sparked a new creative direction. Working with Blakeslee, she recorded an unpolished collection of songs on a cassette 4-track, which Blakeslee sent to Sub Pop Records in March 2020. The resulting album,
Acquainted With Night, struck a chord with listeners during the bizarre days of early 2021.
Star Eaters Delight (2023), deepened the collaboration with Blakeslee, infusing minimalist soundscapes with a heightened electric energy. The album’s subsequent tour included sold-out shows in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Paris, multiple trips across Europe, and a West Coast run supporting kindred spirit Weyes Blood. This marked yet another return to Los Angeles.
Indeed, Los Angeles is not just the backdrop of
Altogether Stranger but a lead character. The album’s accompanying film - created with Neale’s faithful Sony Handycam - builds on her ongoing series of self-directed music videos and tells the story of herself as an alien in a suit of mirrors stranded on Earth. Wandering through modern-day LA she finds both absurdity and beauty in our fragile, untenable way of life.
“In the course of writing this record there was one song I could never finish. The main line was, ‘I don’t belong here, I am an altogether stranger.’ I meant ‘stranger’ as a noun, not an adjective. Even though I abandoned the song, the lost chorus stuck with me & became the unspoken motif of the record,” says Neale. Over the long year it took to write
Altogether Stranger, she vacillated between childlike optimism and existential melancholy. While she may not have been able to reconcile these opposing states, the attempt led to an ambitious breakthrough for this singular, self-sufficient artist.

Lael Neale
Altogether Stranger 1. Wild Waters
2. All Good Things Will Come To Pass
3. Down On The Freeway
4. Sleep Through The Long Night
5. Come On
6. Tell Me How To Be Here
7. New Ages
8. All Is Never Lost
9. There From Here
Today, Lael Neale is sharing the sparkling official video for
“Electricity,” a new song available now worldwide on all DSPs from Sub Pop.
“Electricity” was written and composed by Neale and produced and arranged by longtime creative collaborator Guy Blakeslee. The video was directed by Neale, and features cinematography by Chance Gray, with movement direction and choreography by Sandi Denton and a performance by the Rated Z Dancers.
Neale says, “I wrote the song during an ice storm a couple of winters ago that caused a 5-day power outage while I was living on my family’s farm in Virginia. I experienced intense withdrawal from all these things we’ve come to depend on so heavily in our modern life - like lighting, heat, refrigeration, and entertainment. I felt a range of sensations from utter emptiness to complete liberation. I realized we’re essentially electrified beings now, but through unplugging entirely we have a chance to gain a new perspective and reset ourselves.”
Lael Neale will hit the road for a string of dates supporting Ben Howard (August 10th-15th) and an appearance at San Francisco’s Outside Lands (August 11th). Neale, a painter, will have a solo art show titled “Altogether Stranger,” held at AndPens Gallery in Eagle Rock, CA, on Friday, August 2nd. The current list of dates are below, and tickets for these shows are on sale now.
Fri. Aug. 2 - Eagle Rock, CA - AndPens Gallery (“Altogether Stranger” Solo Painting Show)
Sat. Aug. 3 - San Pedro, CA - Genuine Souvenirs Festival
Sat. Aug. 10 - Los Angeles, CA - The United Theater on Broadway *
Sun. Aug. 11 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
Tue. Aug. 13 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater *
Wed. Aug. 14 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre *
Thu. Aug 15 - Vancouver, BC - Queen Elizabeth Theatre *
* w/ Ben Howard
Neale’s most recent full-length is the beguiling Star Eaters Delight, her second album released in April 2023. The album reveals an expansion of Neale’s sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee and arrives on the heels of her Sub Pop debut Acquainted With Night, which won international acclaim for its crystalline vocals, clever songwriting, and excellent use of Omnichord to build a world of beautiful reveries.
Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She explains: “The unbroken silences on the farm compelled me to break them with sound. This album is louder and more external, calling out to the world.”
Lael Neale’s Star Eaters Delight, is also available now from Sub Pop.
What people are saying about Lael Neale:
“A unique, boldly weird proposition, and one that proudly carries the faint hint of tractor grease. Half of it comes on like cult 70s folk artist Karen Dalton hanging out with the Velvet Underground and Suicide, while the rest offers somewhat more modern balladry, placing her more in the world of Angel Olsen and Cat Power.” - THE GUARDIAN
“Spellbinding” ★★★★★ - SHINDIG!
“There’s something a little haunting about her voice, it helps too that she writes primarily on the Omnichord, which has a little bit of spookiness built into it. But this is kind of an album for Luddites about how to exist in a world that demands too much of your attention and how you can be intentional about the way you move through it. It was recorded on cassette, which I love because it brings a real warmth to it, and a real presence of being in the room, which I think really delivers that message home.” “New Music Friday: The Best Releases Out April 21st” - NPR MUSIC
“…An excellent new album” - STEREOGUM
“Neale has placed her trust in life’s meanders—and in its source—and the result is her best work yet: a golden mean between experimentation and pop, lo-fi and hi-fi, vitality and rest.” - PASTE
“Neale is imaginative, but she’s steeped in songwriting craft and she knows her way round a whopping chorus.” ★★★★ - MOJO
“Star Eater’s Delight…was recorded on cassette, and tape hiss acts like a third band member here. She sings of flowers, rivers, seas, and trees; holy water, perfect deaths; bells of time, patience, and the speed of medicine. Carried by words and rhythm, she’s barreling towards something just beyond the horizon.” - AQUARIUM DRUNKARD
“Neale has put together a tight package of an album with no stray notes but one also brimming with a sly multitude of ideas. Kudos to Neale for not playing it safe and simultaneously doing something wholly different than anyone else out there.”
9/10 - UNDER THE RADAR
“This collection of versatile songs acts as a tour of different neighborhoods in the beautifully smeary nocturnal dream world Neale began building on her last album.” ★★★★ - ALL MUSIC
“A collection of songs with the weight and conviction of hymns. Some have a more spare, lo-fi feel, with Neale’s voice accompanied by vintage instruments, including her signature mellotron, but the real centerpiece is the eight-minute “In Verona,” which brings a real sense of urgency to its invocations of Shakespeare.” “Notable Releases of the Week” - BROOKLYN VEGAN
“An elegantly spare showcase of her radiant voice, a tremulous yodel tinged with gospel and country inflections. Bathed in antique analog acoustics, spine-tingling ballads of romantic yearning....” - UNCUT
Lael Neale portrays a frustrated school teacher with talent show aspirations in the droll and self-directed
official video for “I’ll Be Your Star,” a new single available now on all DSPs. The new song was recorded during the sessions for
Star Eaters Delight, her acclaimed 2023 album released earlier this spring.
“I’ll Be Your Star” was written by Neale and produced and arranged by Guy Blakeslee. It also follows the release of the raw gem “White T-Shirt,” released in June.
Neale says, “Getting to make this video at my beloved elementary school felt like coming full circle. I had my first and only film class there in which I learned the spontaneous and primitive approach to making things that I’m still committed to.”
Lael Neale’s international tour schedule for 2023 in support of
Star Eaters Delight, which resumes Wednesday, September 6th in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at Roodkapje and currently runs through Friday, September 29th in Seattle, WA, at The Paramount Theatre. The tour includes headlining European tour dates (through September 16th) and U.S. Pacific Northwest dates with label mate Weyes Blood (September 27th-29th). A list of dates is below, and tickets for these shows are on sale now.
Wed. Sep. 06 - Rotterdam, NL - Roodkapje
Thu. Sep. 07 - Utrecht, NL - Ekko
Fri. Sep. 08 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Upstairs
Sat. Sep. 09 - Asten-Heusden, NL - Misty Fields Festival
Mon. Sep. 11 - Bristol, UK - Crofters Rights
Tue. Sep. 12 - Brighton, UK - The Prince Albert
Wed. Sep. 13 - London, UK - Moth Club
Thu. Sep. 14 - Dublin, IE - The Workman’s Club
Sat. Sep. 16 - Leffinge, BE - Leffingeleuren Festival
Wed. Sep. 27 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater ^
Thu. Sep. 28 - Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre ^
Fri. Sep. 29 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater ^
The beguiling
Star Eaters Delight reveals an expansion of Neale’s sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee and arrives on the heels of her Sub Pop debut
Acquainted With Night, which won international acclaim for its crystalline vocals, clever songwriting, and excellent use of Omnichord to build a world of beautiful reveries.
In April of 2020, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family’s farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation,
Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She explains: “The unbroken silences on the farm compelled me to break them with sound. This album is louder and more external, calling out to the world.”
Star Eaters Delight was written by Neale, with arrangements and production by Guy Blakeslee. The recordings were made on cassette in Virginia and mastered by Chris Coady in Los Angeles.
Star Eaters Delight is available now from Sub Pop. LP orders from
megamart.subpop.com in North America and
Mega Mart 2 in UK and Europe, along with select independent retailers in
North America, and
the UK and Europe, will receive the Loser edition on gold vinyl.
What people are saying about Lael Neale:“A unique, boldly weird proposition, and one that proudly carries the faint hint of tractor grease. Half of it comes on like cult 70s folk artist Karen Dalton hanging out with the Velvet Underground and Suicide, while the rest offers somewhat more modern balladry, placing her more in the world of Angel Olsen and Cat Power.” -
THE GUARDIAN “Spellbinding” ★★★★★ -
SHINDIG! “There’s something a little haunting about her voice, it helps too that she writes primarily on the Omnichord, which has a little bit of spookiness built into it. But this is kind of an album for Luddites about how to exist in a world that demands too much of your attention and how you can be intentional about the way you move through it. It was recorded on cassette, which I love because it brings a real warmth to it, and a real presence of being in the room, which I think really delivers that message home.” -
NPR MUSIC “…An excellent new album” -
STEREOGUM “Neale has placed her trust in life’s meanders—and in its source—and the result is her best work yet: a golden mean between experimentation and pop, lo-fi and hi-fi, vitality and rest.” -
PASTE “Neale is imaginative, but she’s steeped in songwriting craft and she knows her way round a whopping chorus.”
★★★★ - MOJO “
Star Eater’s Delight…was recorded on cassette, and tape hiss acts like a third band member here. She sings of flowers, rivers, seas, and trees; holy water, perfect deaths; bells of time, patience, and the speed of medicine. Carried by words and rhythm, she’s barreling towards something just beyond the horizon.” -
AQUARIUM DRUNKARD “Neale has put together a tight package of an album with no stray notes but one also brimming with a sly multitude of ideas. Kudos to Neale for not playing it safe and simultaneously doing something wholly different than anyone else out there.”
9/10 - UNDER THE RADAR “This collection of versatile songs acts as a tour of different neighborhoods in the beautifully smeary nocturnal dream world Neale began building on her last album.” ★★★★ -
ALL MUSIC “A collection of songs with the weight and conviction of hymns. Some have a more spare, lo-fi feel, with Neale’s voice accompanied by vintage instruments, including her signature mellotron, but the real centerpiece is the eight-minute “In Verona,” which brings a real sense of urgency to its invocations of Shakespeare.”
- BROOKLYN VEGAN “An elegantly spare showcase of her radiant voice, a tremulous yodel tinged with gospel and country inflections. Bathed in antique analog acoustics, spine-tingling ballads of romantic yearning....” -
UNCUT

Lael Neale
“I’ll Be Your Star”
Today, Lael Neale is sharing the official video for “White T-Shirt,” a new song available now on all DSPs and recorded during the Star Eaters Delight sessions, her acclaimed album of 2023, released earlier this spring. The song was written and composed by Neale and produced and mixed by Guy Blakeslee.
Blakeslee says of the song, “‘’White T-Shirt’ dates back a number of years to when I used to follow Lael around LA to all of her barely publicized performances. The song never ceased to silence the chatter in the room. There was nothing I could add to this performance, it’s a raw gem that stands alone and cuts through the noise.”
Lael Neale has also extended her international tour schedule for 2023 in support of Star Eaters Delight, which resumes Tuesday, July 11th in Prague, CR at Zluté Lazné and currently runs through Friday, September 29th in Seattle, WA at The Paramount Theatre.
Highlights for the summer and fall run include UK & European dates supporting Ben Howard (July 11th-July 23rd), U.S. Pacific Northwest dates with label mate Weyes Blood (September 27th-29th), and new UK & European headlining shows (September 6th-16th). A current list of dates is below, and tickets for these shows are on sale now.
Tue. Jul. 11 - Prague, CR - Zluté Lazné *
Wed. Jul. 12 - Warsaw, PL - Progresja Summer Stage *
Fri. Jul. 14 - Berlin, DE - Zitadelle *
Sat. Jul. 15 - Hamburg, DE - Stadtpark *
Mon. Jul. 17 - Munich, DE - Tonhalle *
Tue. Jul. 18 - Zurich, CH - X-Tra Podium *
Fri. Jul. 21 - Glasgow, UK - SWG3 Yard *
Sat. Jul. 22 - London, UK - Alexandra Palace Park *
Sun. Jul. 23 - Cardiff, UK - Cardiff Castle *
Wed. Sep. 06 - Rotterdam, NL - Roodkapje
Thu. Sep. 07 - Utrecht, NL - Ekko
Fri. Sep. 08 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Upstairs
Sat. Sep. 09 - Asten-Heusden, NL - Misty Fields Festival
Mon. Sep. 11 - Bristol, UK - Crofters Rights
Tue. Sep. 12 - Brighton, UK - The Prince Albert
Wed. Sep. 13 - London, UK - Moth Club
Thu. Sep. 14 - Dublin, IE - The Workman’s Club
Sat. Sep. 16 - Leffinge, BE - Leffingeleuren Festival
Wed. Sep. 27 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater ^
Thu. Sep. 28 - Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre ^
Fri. Sep. 29 - Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater ^
* w/ Ben Howard
^ w/ Weyes Blood
The beguiling
Star Eaters Delight reveals an expansion of Neale’s sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee and arrives on the heels of her Sub Pop debut
Acquainted With Night, which won international acclaim for its crystalline vocals, clever songwriting, and excellent use of Omnichord to build a world of beautiful reveries.
In April of 2020, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family’s farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation,
Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She explains: “The unbroken silences on the farm compelled me to break them with sound. This album is louder and more external, calling out to the world.”
Star Eaters Delight was written by Neale, with arrangements and production by Guy Blakeslee. The recordings were made on cassette in Virginia and mastered by Chris Coady in Los Angeles.
Star Eaters Delight is available now from Sub Pop. LP orders from
megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in
North America,
the UK and Europe, will receive the Loser edition on gold vinyl.
What people are saying about Lael Neale’s Star Eaters Delight:“A unique, boldly weird proposition, and one that proudly carries the faint hint of tractor grease. Half of it comes on like cult 70s folk artist Karen Dalton hanging out with the Velvet Underground and Suicide, while the rest offers somewhat more modern balladry, placing her more in the world of Angel Olsen and Cat Power.” -
THE GUARDIAN “Spellbinding” ★★★★★ -
SHINDIG! “There’s something a little haunting about her voice, it helps too that she writes primarily on the Omnichord, which has a little bit of spookiness built into it. But this is kind of an album for Luddites about how to exist in a world that demands too much of your attention and how you can be intentional about the way you move through it. It was recorded on cassette, which I love because it brings a real warmth to it, and a real presence of being in the room, which I think really delivers that message home.”
“New Music Friday: The Best Releases Out April 21st” -
NPR MUSIC “…An excellent new album” -
STEREOGUM “Neale has placed her trust in life’s meanders—and in its source—and the result is her best work yet: a golden mean between experimentation and pop, lo-fi and hi-fi, vitality and rest.” -
PASTE “Neale is imaginative, but she’s steeped in songwriting craft and she knows her way round a whopping chorus.”
★★★★ - MOJO “
Star Eater’s Delight…was recorded on cassette, and tape hiss acts like a third band member here. She sings of flowers, rivers, seas, and trees; holy water, perfect deaths; bells of time, patience, and the speed of medicine. Carried by words and rhythm, she’s barreling towards something just beyond the horizon.” -
AQUARIUM DRUNKARD “Neale has put together a tight package of an album with no stray notes but one also brimming with a sly multitude of ideas. Kudos to Neale for not playing it safe and simultaneously doing something wholly different than anyone else out there.”
9/10 - UNDER THE RADAR “This collection of versatile songs acts as a tour of different neighborhoods in the beautifully smeary nocturnal dream world Neale began building on her last album.” ★★★★ -
ALL MUSIC “A collection of songs with the weight and conviction of hymns. Some have a more spare, lo-fi feel, with Neale’s voice accompanied by vintage instruments, including her signature mellotron, but the real centerpiece is the eight-minute “In Verona,” which brings a real sense of urgency to its invocations of Shakespeare.”
“Notable Releases of the Week” - BROOKLYN VEGAN “An elegantly spare showcase of her radiant voice, a tremulous yodel tinged with gospel and country inflections. Bathed in antique analog acoustics, spine-tingling ballads of romantic yearning....” -
UNCUT
See ya soon, UK friends!
- Thurs, 11th May - 2:55PM - Sounds Australia Showcase @ Komedia
- Fri, 12th May - 10:30PM @ Latest Music Bar
waterbaby - Fri, 12th May - 9:30PM @ The Mucky Duck, Brighton
Girl and Girl | 19:00 - 19:30 |
Night Works | 19:50 - 20:20 |
Lael Neale | 20:40 - 21:10 |
waterbaby | 21:30 - 22:00 |
RVG | 22.20 - 22:50 |
DJs | 22:50 - 00:00 |