Lael Neale - Altogether Stranger

Lael Neale’s Altogether Stranger is a minimalist, dreamlike meditation shaped by years of oscillation between rural quiet and urban intensity. Written in the early morning solitude of her Los Angeles home, the album blends garage rock mantras, Motorik rhythms, and Omnichord-led reveries—grounded in her crystalline voice and poetic vision.

Raised in rural Virginia and now rooted in L.A., Neale draws from a wide spectrum: Dionne Warwick, John Lennon, American gospel, and Spacemen 3. The result is nine songs in 32 minutes that balance intimacy with experimentation, created in close collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee.

Themes of polarity—technology vs. nature, city vs. country—run throughout, as Neale mines meaning from modern alienation and spiritual seeking. A companion film, shot on her Sony Handycam, casts Neale as a mirrored alien navigating L.A.’s surreal landscape. Altogether Stranger is her most adventurous work to date—subtle, strange, and full of quiet revelations.