This Friday, April 21st, Lael Neale will release Star Eaters Delight on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. Today, she shares an official new video for “Must Be Tears,” a bittersweet standout from the album that invokes Nico with its pulsing Mellotron strings.   
 
Neale, who directed the video, reflects, “Even though I’ve lived through many Springs, the season never fails to disappoint me with its lingering cold & dreariness. Flowers are Nature’s apology.”
 
Lael Neale has extended her international tour schedule for 2023 in support of Star Eaters Delight, resumes this Saturday, April 22nd in Los Angeles at Permanent Records Roadhouse, and now runs through Saturday, June 3rd in Düdingen, Switzerland, with an appearance at the Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival. Highlights for this tour include an appearance at Brighton, UK’s The Great Escape Festival Wednesday, May 10th through Saturday, May 13th (exact date TBC),  Tuesday, May 30th in Barcelona, ES at Heliogàbal, and Wednesday, May 31st at Madrid, ES at Sound Isidro @ Siroco. A current list of dates is below, and tickets for these shows are on sale now.

US 2023
Sat. Apr. 22 - Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records Roadhouse
Mon. Apr. 24 - Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space
Wed. Apr. 26 - Austin, TX - Chess Club
Sat. Apr. 29 -  Nashville, TN - drkmttr
Wed. May 03 - Washington, DC - Comet Ping Pong
Fri. May 05 - New York, NY - Public Records
Sat. May 06 - Northampton, MA - Parlor Room
Sun. May 07 - Philadelphia, PA - Dolphin
 
UK/EU 2023
Wed. May 10 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Thu.  May 11 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Fri. May 12 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Sat. May 13 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Sun. May 14 - Leeds, UK - In Colour Festival
Mon. May 15 - Manchester, UK - The Castle Hotel
Tue. May 16 - London, UK - The Lexington
Wed. May 17- Paris, FR -  La Boule Noire
Thu. May 18 - Tourcoing, FR - Le Grand Mix
Fri. May 19 - Brussels, BE - Botanique (Witloof Bar)
Sat. May 20 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso (London Calling Fest)
Mon. May 22 - Berlin, DE - Kantine am Berghain
Tue. May 23 - Hamburg, DE - Aalhaus
Wed. May 24 - Copenhagen, DK - Huset
Thu. May 25 - Oslo, NO - Krosset
Fri. May 26 - Stockholm, SE - Nomad
Sat. May 27 - Gothenburg, SE - Oceanen
Tue. May  30 - Barcelona, ES - Heliogàbal
Wed. May 31 - Madrid, ES - Sound Isidro @ Siroco
Thu. Jun. 01 - Lisbon, PT - ZDB
Sat. Jun. 03 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival

The beguiling Star Eaters Delight reveals an expansion of Neale’s sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee and arrives on the heels of her Sub Pop debut Acquainted With Night,  which won international acclaim for its crystalline vocals, clever songwriting, and excellent use of Omnichord to build a world of beautiful reveries.
 
In April of 2020, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family’s farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She explains: “The unbroken silences on the farm compelled me to break them with sound. This album is louder and more external, calling out to the world.”
 
Shindig! raves “The spellbinding Star Eaters Delight signals an expansion of her sonic sensibilities that feels metropolitan and voracious (conjuring scenes where lo-fi, post-punk, and avant-garde were in deep conversation) and flirts with the noisy and angular (5/5).”  Meanwhile, Uncut offers this, “An elegantly spare showcase of her radiant voice, a tremulous yodel tinged with gospel and country inflections. Bathed in antique analog acoustics, spine-tingling ballads of romantic yearning like “If I Had Wings” and “Return To Me Now” blend guitar with vintage instruments including Mellotron and a Suzuki Omnichord.”
 
Star Eaters Delight was written by Neale, with arrangements and production by Guy Blakeslee. The recordings were made on cassette in Virginia and mastered by Chris Coady in Los Angeles.
The album is available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in North America, the UK and Europe, will receive the Loser edition on gold vinyl.

Lael Neale

Star Eaters Delight
 
Tracklisting:
1. I Am The River
2. If I Had No Wings
3. Faster Than The Medicine
4. In Verona
5. Must Be Tears
6. No Holds Barred
7. Return To Me Now
8. Lead Me Blind