Category: Lael Neale

“I once followed blindly but now I can see,” Lael Neale intones on her fourth record–and third in the space of a fruitful five-year period–Altogether Stranger. This is one of many revelations and reflections on her return to Los Angeles having spent several years away from its stifling chaos in the respite of her family’s farm in rural Virginia. The songs astutely capture this internally fraught period with colloquial eloquence. Altogether Stranger simultaneously confronts the relentless noise of city living and provides a much-needed sanctuary away from it through its comforting intimacy. Neale’s latest recalls the scope of Lou Reed, Connie Converse and Suicide, resulting in her most tonally dexterous body of work.

When I’m listening to Lael Neale’s new album Star Eater’s Delight , it makes me think of the duality of “resistance.” There’s resistance in the sense of restraint: the songs are skeletal, […]

Singer/songwriter Lael Neale sits down at Schubas Tavern in Chicago to discuss her album Acquainted with Night, her collaborator Guy Blakeslee of Entrance Band, and where she’s going next.