This Is Lorelei - The Singer in My Band (2026)
The Singer in My Band is the kind of album I can listen to without resistance, but that is also part of the problem. Almost everything is agreeable. The guitars are warm, the banjo is tasteful, the vocals are intimate, and the songs are short enough that none of them becomes irritating. But very little really catches.
“I Will Eat My Heart in the Morning Light” is a good example. The melody is pleasant, the arrangement is clean, and the track sets the tone quickly. But once it ends, I do not retain much beyond the general warmth. “Oh No Now My” is more interesting because the guitars become rougher and the Alex G influence is more obvious, which gives the song some friction. NME also points to that shift.
“Billy Came Back” is catchy enough, but it feels like a well-made song in a style I already know rather than something with a strong identity of its own. “Watching Heaven Fall” leans more clearly into bluegrass, helped by Amos’ family background and his father’s banjo playing. That gives the record authenticity, but authenticity does not automatically make the writing more memorable.
“Sailing (Your Baby’s Down)” is probably where the familiarity starts working against the album. The melody feels almost pre-existing, and while that timeless quality is deliberate, it also makes the song easy to absorb and easy to forget. The title track has more charm, especially with the family-band atmosphere around it, but again I like the setting more than the composition.
“Nitro” is only 1:26 and works as a transition. “Hey Sarah Is It Gonna Rain Forever” is better because the arrangement actually moves. There is more emotional pressure, more build, and less sense that the song is simply sitting inside one comfortable mood.
“The Kid With the Crown” is the clear peak for me. It has more tension, more bite and more forward motion than anything else here. At 4:14, it also has enough room to feel developed rather than sketched. This is the one track where I hear why people are so enthusiastic about Amos as a songwriter.
“And I Haven’t Seen My Love in Quite a While” returns to the softer twang, and by then I have mostly understood the album. “Don’t You Cry in Lonesomeness” is a nice closer, but it does not change my overall reaction. Pitchfork hears the final track as a generous, vulnerable resolution, and I can understand that reading. I just do not find it especially powerful musically.
The biggest weakness is not that the album is simple. Simple songwriting can be devastating when the melody or emotional detail is strong enough. The issue here is that the simplification removes many of the strange edges that made This Is Lorelei more distinctive, while the songs themselves are not consistently strong enough to compensate.
Warm, concise and easy to like, but too comfortable and too familiar for me. “The Kid With the Crown” shows how good this approach can be when there is real tension underneath it, but most of the album passes pleasantly rather than staying with me.
Genre: Indie Folk
Country: US
Final Verdict: 58% (Forgettable Album)
Yearly Ranking: 647th / 711
Highlight: The Kid With the Crown
Made me think of:
MJ Lenderman
Alex G
Wilco
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