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Sep 22, 2025 By Mark Redfern Photography by Silken Weinberg

Minimalist singer/songwriter Lael Neale released a new album, Altogether Stranger, in April via Sub Pop. Now she has released a brand new single, “Some Bright Morning,” via a music video. Watch it below, followed by her upcoming tour dates.

Neale co-directed the video with regular collaborator Guy Blakeslee. She had this to say about it in a press release: “My dad is a farmer, and as I watch him working, day in and day out, I realize being an artist is very similar. Both are tending to work that is never done, in service of a broader life-long vision. There’s always more to do, new approaches to take, and leaps to make in the midst of mundane everyday tasks. You have to be motivated by a belief in what you are doing without attachment to the results. There’s a quiet satisfaction in the daily steps.”

The song is described as an outtake from Altogether Stranger.

Read our interview with Neale on Altogether Stranger.

Blakeslee produced and mixed Altogether Stranger, which was recorded at home. Chris Coady mastered it.

Previously Neale shared the album’s first single, “Tell Me How to Be Here,” via a self-directed video. It was one of our Songs of the Week. Then she shared its second single, “Down on the Freeway,” via a self-directed music video. It was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then she shared its third single, “Wild Waters,” via a self-directed music video. Again it landed on Songs of the Week.

On release day, Neale released music videos for all the remaining songs from the album.

Altogether Stranger found Neale returning to Los Angeles after three years of living in rural Virginia. She was born and raised in Virginia before moving to Los Angeles then back to VA during the pandemic and now back to LA again. The video for “Tell Me How to Be Here” superimposes images of LA on top of a double exposed Neale as she sings the song.

“On returning to Los Angeles I felt like an extraterrestrial landing on a dystopian planet so I’m writing from the perspective of a being from another realm witnessing the peculiarities of humanity,” says Neale in a press release.

“In the course of writing this record there was one song I could never finish. The main line was, ‘I don’t belong here, I am an altogether stranger.’ I meant ‘stranger’ as a noun, not an adjective. Even though I abandoned the song, the lost chorus stuck with me & became the unspoken motif of the record,” says Neale of the album’s title.

Altogether Stranger was Neale’s third Sub Pop album and the follow-up to Star Eaters Delight (which was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2023) and Acquainted With Night (which was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2021).

In 2024 Neale shared the new song “Electricity,” which is not featured on the new album.

Read our interview with Lael Neale on Star Eaters Delight.

Read our rave review of the album here.

Read our 2021 interview with Lael Neale.

Lael Neale Tour Dates:

Thu. Sep. 25 - Toronto, ON - Wavelength at St Anne’s
Fri. Sep. 26 - Montreal, QC - POP Montreal
Sat. Sep. 27 - Providence, RI - AS 220
Sun. Sep. 28- New York, NY - Nightclub 101
Mon. Nov. 03 - Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern
Tue. Nov. 04 - Portland, OR - White Eagle
Thu. Nov. 06 - San Francisco, CA - 4 Star Theatre
Fri. Nov. 07 - Santa Cruz, CA - Crepe Place
Sun. Nov. 09 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
Tue. Nov.18 - Rome, IT - 30 Formiche
Wed. Nov. 19 - Milano, IT - Arci Bellezza
Thu. Nov. 20 - Torino, IT - Spazio 211
Fri. Nov. 21 - Geneva, CH - Les Créatives Festival
Sun. Nov. 23 - Annecy, FR - Le Brise Glace
Tue. Nov. 25 - Barcelona, ES - VOL
Wed. Nov. 26 - Madrid, ES - Mazo @ Sala Juglar
Sat. Nov. 29 - Lisbon, PT - ZDB
Fri. Dec 05 - Margate, UK - Where Else?
Sat. Dec. 06 - London, UK - Ivy House

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