Here, reflecting the sky, lies Blakesee. Lael Neale may have sought inspiration near here. Perhaps she found the themes of polarity she explores in her music. Country versus city. Humanity versus technology. Isolation versus society. These themes resonate in her album “Altogether Stranger.”
Lael Neale, a brilliant lyricist, finds the extraordinary in the mundane. She uncovers the hidden stories within everyday life. Maybe Blakesee, with its calm surface and unknown depths, sparked her creativity. Her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee expands her sound. It stays true to her commitment to raw immediacy. It values hand-made intimacy in home recording.
Neale’s “Altogether Stranger” covers unexpected musical terrain. Garage rock nursery rhymes meet creation myths. Motorik dance dirges blend with solitary Omnichord meditations. The album is just 32 minutes long but its breadth is vast.
One standout track, “Tell Me How To Be Here,” captures Neale’s return to Los Angeles. She had spent three years living in rural Virginia. The song transmutes dissociative unease into a dreamlike reverie. It echoes the Velvet Underground. It has the distant chime of “Sunday Morning” bells. Blakeslee’s ambient tape loops and Mellotron add to the atmosphere.
The official video for “Tell Me How To Be Here” was filmed in Los Angeles. Neale and Blakeslee directed and starred in it. It captures the song’s kindred spirit. The video evokes the disorientation of waking up in a world that feels strange.
Other songs on “Altogether Stranger” include “Down On The Freeway” and “Wild Waters.” All songs were written by Neale. Blakeslee produced and mixed the album at his home in Los Angeles. Chris Coady mastered it.
In spring 2025, Lael Neale will tour to support “Altogether Stranger.” Neale and Blakeslee have US release shows in Los Angeles and New York City. They will then head to the UK and Europe. One stop is in Berlin. She performs at Kantine am Berghain.
Neale’s music draws inspiration from the Transcendentalists. It reflects the alienation of modern life. It is influenced by Dionne Warwick, John Lennon, and Spacemen 3. It nods to primitive American gospel. Her lo-fi, D.I.Y. ethos shines through.
Neale loves doing things the wrong way. She rebels against conformity. She wants to belong but also wants to create in her own way. “Altogether Stranger” was conceived after three years of oscillating between rural solitude and urban chaos.
Returning to Los Angeles, Neale felt like an extraterrestrial. She saw the peculiarities of humanity from a new perspective. She wrote from the viewpoint of a being from another realm. The album finds Neale perched at the piano. She looks down on Sunset Blvd from a hilltop bungalow. This daily ritual of writing, singing, and painting creates space for adventurous work.
Neale abandoned one song during the writing process. Its main line was: “I don’t belong here, I am an altogether stranger.” The lost chorus became the unspoken motif of the record. Over the long year, Neale vacillated between optimism and melancholy. This led to an ambitious breakthrough. Lael Neale created “Altogether Stranger.”