ALBUM REVIEW: Lael Neale – Star Eaters Delight

Sub Pop

Released: 21.04.23

Lael Neale grew up on a rural farm in Virginia and there were no screens involved in the creation of Star Eaters Delight. In Neale’s world, pastoral lyrics wander above vinyl crackles. Songs concern rivers, stars and wings. The driving sentiment is nostalgia. Naele makes direct nods to progenitors like Lou Reed with a refrain of who loves the sun in her wintery Return To Me Now.

It’s tempting to call Naele cliché or hackneyed, but her music is more complicated than that – more akin to Broadcast than Lana del Ray. Along with her long-time collaborator Guy Blakeslee, Star Eaters Delight combines electronic guitars, synths and loops to create textured, eerily meandering tracks. In Verona and I Am The River  sees Neale at her most mature yet. Criticised for never quite reaching a climax, Naele now uses thumping electronic basslines and vocal loopers to shamelessly do just that.