Nate Amos has always been a shapeshifter. Across a rather sprawling back-catalogue – upwards of 30 EPs, mixtapes and compilations make a treasure trove of his Bandcamp page – the musician’s solo venture, This Is Lorelei, has veered fluidly between lo-fi bedroom indie and brash hyperpop to hushed alt-country, sometimes within the space of a single tracklist.
- READ MORE: Three albums in, Slow Pulp are older and wiser. On ‘Melodie’, they’re using that to their advantage
Alongside his work in experimental New York-based duo Water From Your Eyes, that refusal to stay comfortably in one singular box has earned him increased attention as of late. It has positioned him among the buzzy likes of Cameron Winter and MJ Lenderman as heads of the new American guard of guitar-led songwriting, though a comparison to Alex G might be most fitting in terms of sound and eclecticism.
Amos’ new record ‘The Singer In My Band’, his first on Matador Records, leans more strongly into the stripped-back Americana and folk-rock element that has always threaded through Amos’ work. As a result, there’s a real warmth to the album. Unlike previous bedroom-written releases, this one was conceived on the road “while daydreaming in the car”, as Amos puts it. It’s a feeling that’s evident from wide-eyed opener ‘I Will Eat My Heart In The Morning Light’, just Amos, acoustic guitar and a motoring drumbeat, as he sings: “I’m not yearning for some kind of yonder / I’m not searching for gods in the sky”.
The album’s lyrics are deceptively deep – addressing love, loss, addiction, distance and the power of music itself – but it’s all set to a backdrop of richly layered instrumentation. ‘Billy Came Back’ and ‘…Quite a While’ glide and soar as bright, anthemic takes on Magnetic Fields-style songwriting driven by a The War On Drugs-esque momentum, resulting in some of the most gorgeously melodic work of Amos’ career.
Amos’ family had a big influence on the record’s sound: his father Bob, a bluegrass performer, plays banjo, while his sister lends backing vocals. Songs like the jaunty ‘Watching Heaven Fall’, rootsy instrumental ‘Nitro’ and the rambling, country-flecked title track carry a plain musicality that harks back to these roots. Some songs, like ‘Sailing…’, have a timeless familiarity to them too, as if their melodies have already passed through your consciousness somehow. That’s seemingly by design: Amos has spoken of his love for classic American songwriting and desire to strip the record of any spare “bells and whistles”.
But it’s not all bright and breezy. The very Alex G-indebted ‘Oh No Now My’ takes a more brooding, grungy turn, while ‘Don’t You Cry…’ slows things right down for the album’s close. But you often find yourself wanting a bit more of a surprise here. Whereas his 2024 breakout album ‘Box for Buddy, Box for Star’ might have swerved without warning, those strange leftfield turns that were so thrilling are mostly absent. What it loses in unpredictability though, it gains in cohesion – ‘The Singer In My Band’ might not be the most adventurous record Amos has released, but it’s certainly his most fully realised and assured.
Details
- Record label: Matador
- Release date: September 11, 2026
The post This Is Lorelei – ‘The Singer In My Band’ review: indie-rock shapeshifter finds strength in simplicity appeared first on NME.