Interview with singer-songwriter Lael Neale

                     "I've  got me to keep me down" sings Lael Neale on Pale Light of the Sun, weaving slow, 60's era sounds throughout a record of poetically introspective, literary songs, Neale has an almost timeless quality to her voice, slightly reminiscent of Fairport Convention's Sandy Denny or Kate Wolf. Although it was a combination of Cat Stevens and Harold and Maude that first sparked her inspiration for songwriting. "I wanted to tell stories in images made emotional through sound" Neale says, of that defining moment when creative paths were revealed. "Inspiration isn’t about magic, it’s about showing up" she adds. Here Lael talks about the importance of maintaining a childlike enthusiasm, the early and initial sense of awe and wonderment, how to show up with all your attention, the difference between looking and seeing and staying open to the creative possibilities that might, at any moment, come pouring through.
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AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them?

Lael: My dad was really into the Grateful Dead and bluegrass music and we went around to festivals during the summer. I loved this approach to music as more of a lifestyle, music for the sake of community. My mom, on the other hand, had more hip taste. She loved The Cure, Jonathan Richman, The Beastie Boys, and was really into films with great soundtracks. One day she brought home Harold and Maude.  Cat Stevens’ songs in the context of such an exceptional film sparked the first feeling that this was what I wanted to do.  I wanted to tell stories in images made emotional through sound.

AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote or played? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper? 

Lael: In grade school we had Declamation day in which all students recited a poem. I chose Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” because I loved how harsh and straightforward the words were without musical accompaniment, but there was definitely some of the magic lost. It was the first time I realized how much sound influences the way we feel something. Now, I am paying more attention to creating the appropriate balance between word and sound.

AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers, teachers/mentors etc? 

Lael: I was a literature major in college so for four years I was steeped in works by the greatest writers and poets. Aside from absorbing the actual content, I learned about discipline and dedication to a daily practice.   I am more drawn to the way musicians like Patti Smith and Nick Cave approach music. I love the interview of Nick Cave in suit and tie, drinking tea from china in an office that he goes to every morning. People like that have shown me that inspiration isn’t about magic, it’s about showing up.

AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? 

Lael: Finding the right angle of light is the perfect metaphor for it.  Writing a good song depends on many factors. Where is the sun sitting in the sky? Are the curtains drawn too tightly?  Did I show up today with all my attention, am I looking or am I seeing? If you can be an open window, something is bound to show up, whether it’s good or not is whether or not the gods are smiling.

AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture/rapture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener?

Lael: I have been healed by music. It happens when the person making it is able to relate her own specific experience to the broader human experience. There doesn’t even need to be resolution or any spiritual consolation, the simple act of one person being exposed tells you that you can be vulnerable too. This is powerful especially in a culture that perceives vulnerability as weakness. I don’t know if I’ve ever accomplished this, but the intention is there.

AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road?

Lael: My warmest memory of music is the annual Graves Mountain Lodge Bluegrass festival near my hometown in Virginia. My cousins and I would go with our families and spend the entire day catching minnows and tadpoles in a river that ran beside it. That music can always bring me to nostalgic tears. I will probably hear it on my deathbed.

AHC: When you set out to write a song, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell?

Lael: The state of the world never influences the songs overtly. I don’t sit down thinking I need to make a cultural statement or political commentary.  With that said, we are products of our environment and our thoughts and feelings cannot be disconnected from the greater conversation going on.  I feel a lot from the world, but the moment I start to intellectualize or “set out to tell” my side, my opinion, the song stays limited. I stand behind what Einstein suggested, that the problems of the world cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them, and as far as I know, my mind is still too small to resolve war or gun violence or inequality.  The best I can offer is empathy, our shared humanity. 

AHC: Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? Or what kinds of things have others told you that have helped push you past moments of self doubt/creative blocks?

Lael: Doubt is death to creativity. Overcoming that has been my greatest challenge.  To combat it, I try to remember myself as a kid making skits in the basement. That feeling. The joy of making just for the sake of making. To maintain a childlike enthusiasm. Sometimes a commitment to that means taking a break from writing and going on a walk or painting a bad picture or going bowling.

AHC: Do you have any new projects moving forward or musical ideas that are percolating for the future?

Lael: I hope to be working with my very talented friend, Guy Blakeslee (Entrance band), who is helping me curate and possibly record the next collection of songs. 



Lael's latest album, I'll Be Your Man, can be purchased by visiting laelneale.bandcamp.com/releases

Visit her official website at www.laelneale.com/
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