Nate Amos, the singer and songwriter behind This Is Lorelei, writes music that echoes in the liminality of fall. His 2024 album “Box for Buddy, Box for Star” captures the tension between feelings of isolation and deep aliveness with vivid lyrics and hypnotic hooks.
The track “I’m All F–d Up” feels like reading a diary entry scribbled in the middle of the night after some sort of psychoactive experience. The peppy restlessness of the beat mimics the hyperactive mind, and the fragmented lyrics are stitched together as a communal confessional, shaking loose broken memories thought to be well hidden.
Amos reflects on the loss of a former state “And it makes me wanna cry, so I write another song / And I knew it all along that you / might wind up next to me / And I knew it all along that you might not be no friend to me,” a confession that the way he’s dealt with internal dissonance is via songwriting, which in perfect agreement with the dissonant nature of his music.
It’s honest, and despite the fun beat behind it, it hurts.
Elsewhere, “Dancing in the Club,” featuring MJ Lenderman, is Amos’ most sardonic moment in the album. His lament is so catchy, it’s easy to overlook how distressed his lyrics are: “Cause you were laughing in the rain / While I was crying there in Paris… / Because I told me not to notice / When I could feel you losing focus / ‘Cause I felt that way before / I don’t take echoes in my wind / But a loser never wins / And I’m a loser, always been.”
Based solely on its rhythm, the track might pass for a slow party tune, but the lyrics tell a different story: one of debilitating loneliness and the uneasy relief promised by amorphous nightlife and other escapist mechanisms. It sounds like dance music for people who’d rather be anywhere else.
“A Song That Sings About You” brings forth a slightly more reflective moment in the album. The tenderness of the track provides a lot of texture in contrast to some of the other songs, offering a glimpse of hopeful intimacy: “I said all these cities look the same without you / They look the same without you / I can’t tell what the street signs say / They just point at me and laugh at me / And they tease me dreams of every day I held you / These streets remind me of you.”
Where other songs spiral outward, the tone in this one moves inward, reminding listeners of the sweet fragility around us, and that although some things don’t stay, the world has beauty in abundance that’s worth holding onto.
Taken together, these songs show the album’s range, from lost to searching to found. Amos doesn’t tie his boxes off with neat little bows, but he doesn’t need to. “Box for Buddy, Box for Star” is about the act of confessing and carrying on. It’s an imperfect well of the human experience.
