Lael Neale is a Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter originally from rural Virginia. She is known for crafting atmospheric music that reflects both isolation and deep emotional sensitivity. Her latest album unfolds like a quiet sci-fi fable, which she describes as the story of someone being dropped onto the planet and trying to make sense of modern life. Though born from uncertainty, the album ultimately offers a message of hope. “Things feel so intense right now,” she says, “but I think most people are good. We all just want to be happy.” (via Sub Pop)
Pearl: Could you tell me a little bit about you as an artist and your background?
Lael: I grew up in rural Virginia. My parents are farmers, and we all loved music. I started playing when I was young, but I never really thought it would be a career. It was kind of serendipitous. I made music and loved writing songs, but I wasn’t really letting myself dream that it could be a possibility. Deep down, I think I really wanted to do it.
I moved to California after college in 2009, and things started falling into place. Some music people heard my songs, and I was given money, which was shocking and amazing. From that moment on, I knew: this is what I want to do. I don’t want to settle for anything else.
Pearl: I feel like a lot of your music still has that environmental connection. There’s a rural, almost earthly pull I hear in it, and I feel that on the new album too. Do you have a favorite song from it?
Lael: I feel like the songs are like children, so it’s kind of unfair to pick a favorite. But I’d say the centerpiece song for me is “Tell Me How to Be Here.” Thematically and sonically, it feels like the anchor point of the whole record. I don’t even know why—that’s just how it feels.
Pearl: Does the album feel different than your past ones? Did you make it with a new intention, or does it just feel like the next step?
Lael: It definitely feels different. My albums are always influenced by where I am. Acquainted with Night was made in LA in 2019. I was living alone—very isolated, but also happy—in my own little dreamland. That’s the feeling of that album: a lone person walking through the world.
Star Eaters was written on the farm in Virginia. I was living with the producer, Guy Blakeslee, and I still do. That album was much more of a collaboration. We were isolated during the pandemic, cut off from community, and that tension came through. It’s not aggressive, but it definitely carries more tension.
With this new album, we’d moved back to LA, and I started to feel really sensitized to the city. I was suddenly aware of how strange urban life can be. Before, it all felt normal, but now I felt like an alien. At the same time, I had my community back, so there was also a new kind of connection. This album is my way of working through how bizarre and surreal modern life feels, especially in cities.
Pearl: There’s such an ethereal quality to it. I think it was "Through the Long Night"—I loved the opening. I thought it was a harp. It really sent me into a dream space.
Lael: Awesome. That’s actually an Omnichord.
It can sound like a harp or a church organ. It’s very droney and dreamy. And it really changed the way I sing and write. It feels like a channeling machine. I play it, and something just comes through. I don’t have to think about it too much.
Pearl: So it kind of sets the tone emotionally, and you connect from there?
Lael: Exactly. It has a drum machine built in too, so that changes the direction of the songs as well.
Lael: I grew up in rural Virginia. My parents are farmers, and we all loved music. I started playing when I was young, but I never really thought it would be a career. It was kind of serendipitous. I made music and loved writing songs, but I wasn’t really letting myself dream that it could be a possibility. Deep down, I think I really wanted to do it.
I moved to California after college in 2009, and things started falling into place. Some music people heard my songs, and I was given money, which was shocking and amazing. From that moment on, I knew: this is what I want to do. I don’t want to settle for anything else.
Pearl: I feel like a lot of your music still has that environmental connection. There’s a rural, almost earthly pull I hear in it, and I feel that on the new album too. Do you have a favorite song from it?
Lael: I feel like the songs are like children, so it’s kind of unfair to pick a favorite. But I’d say the centerpiece song for me is “Tell Me How to Be Here.” Thematically and sonically, it feels like the anchor point of the whole record. I don’t even know why—that’s just how it feels.
Pearl: Does the album feel different than your past ones? Did you make it with a new intention, or does it just feel like the next step?
Lael: It definitely feels different. My albums are always influenced by where I am. Acquainted with Night was made in LA in 2019. I was living alone—very isolated, but also happy—in my own little dreamland. That’s the feeling of that album: a lone person walking through the world.
Star Eaters was written on the farm in Virginia. I was living with the producer, Guy Blakeslee, and I still do. That album was much more of a collaboration. We were isolated during the pandemic, cut off from community, and that tension came through. It’s not aggressive, but it definitely carries more tension.
With this new album, we’d moved back to LA, and I started to feel really sensitized to the city. I was suddenly aware of how strange urban life can be. Before, it all felt normal, but now I felt like an alien. At the same time, I had my community back, so there was also a new kind of connection. This album is my way of working through how bizarre and surreal modern life feels, especially in cities.
Pearl: There’s such an ethereal quality to it. I think it was "Through the Long Night"—I loved the opening. I thought it was a harp. It really sent me into a dream space.
Lael: Awesome. That’s actually an Omnichord.
It can sound like a harp or a church organ. It’s very droney and dreamy. And it really changed the way I sing and write. It feels like a channeling machine. I play it, and something just comes through. I don’t have to think about it too much.
Pearl: So it kind of sets the tone emotionally, and you connect from there?
Lael: Exactly. It has a drum machine built in too, so that changes the direction of the songs as well.
Pearl: I also wanted to talk about your music videos, which I love. You direct them yourself, and they all seem to share a specific aesthetic. It feels like they’re shot on a 2000s digital camera, with a soft, almost memory-like palette. How does that visual world connect to your sound?
Lael: It’s actually the camera I had in high school—around 2000. It uses 8mm tape, real tape. When Acquainted with Night came out in 2020, I was back home in Virginia and found that camera again. Since we were so isolated, it was just Guy and me, and we had to make everything ourselves.
In LA, I have lots of friends who direct, but at that time, no one was around. So I thought, I’ll just make the videos myself. Guy usually shoots them, and I come up with the ideas. Sometimes we talk it through, but I direct and edit.
Now I can’t imagine doing it any other way. The limitations became part of the aesthetic. I even edit on this really old version of iMovie. It’s so basic, and it kind of matches the rawness of the music. There’s something about keeping it simple and unpolished that just feels right.
Pearl: Where do you usually get your ideas for the videos?
Lael: I meditate or go on walks. Walking especially helps. I’ll have the song playing in my mind, and then I get a sort of download—a visual or a feeling—and I follow it. I think most people create that way. You get an image, a flash of something, and you build from there.
Also, the limitations help. We can only shoot what we have access to. So the process becomes about following the trail of what’s possible.
Pearl: Are there any references you turn to often?
Lael: Not really. I’m kind of out of touch. I don’t watch many music videos now. When I was younger I did, but those were huge productions.
Maybe the closest influence is Jonas Mekas. He was a filmmaker in the ’60s, and his work feels like home videos—rough, poetic, a little spastic in how it's cut together. It’s not exactly like what I do, but it gave me confidence to trust my instincts. It reminded me that you can make something personal without needing it to be perfect.
Lael: It’s actually the camera I had in high school—around 2000. It uses 8mm tape, real tape. When Acquainted with Night came out in 2020, I was back home in Virginia and found that camera again. Since we were so isolated, it was just Guy and me, and we had to make everything ourselves.
In LA, I have lots of friends who direct, but at that time, no one was around. So I thought, I’ll just make the videos myself. Guy usually shoots them, and I come up with the ideas. Sometimes we talk it through, but I direct and edit.
Now I can’t imagine doing it any other way. The limitations became part of the aesthetic. I even edit on this really old version of iMovie. It’s so basic, and it kind of matches the rawness of the music. There’s something about keeping it simple and unpolished that just feels right.
Pearl: Where do you usually get your ideas for the videos?
Lael: I meditate or go on walks. Walking especially helps. I’ll have the song playing in my mind, and then I get a sort of download—a visual or a feeling—and I follow it. I think most people create that way. You get an image, a flash of something, and you build from there.
Also, the limitations help. We can only shoot what we have access to. So the process becomes about following the trail of what’s possible.
Pearl: Are there any references you turn to often?
Lael: Not really. I’m kind of out of touch. I don’t watch many music videos now. When I was younger I did, but those were huge productions.
Maybe the closest influence is Jonas Mekas. He was a filmmaker in the ’60s, and his work feels like home videos—rough, poetic, a little spastic in how it's cut together. It’s not exactly like what I do, but it gave me confidence to trust my instincts. It reminded me that you can make something personal without needing it to be perfect.
Pearl: Your new album feels like it tells a story, especially in the track titles. I think the last line is, “Wake me up before I go to sleep.” Was that narrative intentional?
Lael: I actually didn’t set out with a story in mind, but once I made the film, I saw the arc more clearly.
It feels like the story is someone being dropped onto the planet and trying to make sense of modern life. The message I came to is really about hope. Things feel so intense right now, and if you’re a sensitive person—which most people are in some way—it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
But I think most people are good. We all just want to be happy. So the album is a kind of message: don’t lose hope, even when the world feels chaotic.
Lael: I actually didn’t set out with a story in mind, but once I made the film, I saw the arc more clearly.
It feels like the story is someone being dropped onto the planet and trying to make sense of modern life. The message I came to is really about hope. Things feel so intense right now, and if you’re a sensitive person—which most people are in some way—it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.
But I think most people are good. We all just want to be happy. So the album is a kind of message: don’t lose hope, even when the world feels chaotic.
Interview by Pearl Marden
for Basta Magazine
for Basta Magazine