“Lately, I feel like I can’t hold my head up high
Don’t mind me girl, I’ll be fine when I’m high.”
Lionel Boy’s newest single “Lately” does a pretty accurate job of putting into words and a sonic room what it feels like to just be… lately. It’s probably even more optimistic than a lot of us feel even though the lyrics turn pretty dark from the above opening lines.
It’s a summery mix of layered bedroom pop synths, jazzy R&B flavors, upbeat drums, and rainy day angst with resonant, round harmonies.
“I’ll be fine when I die
Something must be reason to feel this way.”
Born in Hawaii and currently SoCal based, Lionel Boy is no stranger to sunshine and paradise. When you’re around such picture perfectness for such a long time, it’s understandable if it can start to wear on you. With this song, which he wrote during a week of rain in California, clearly the break from the relentless sunshine shed light on the darker nooks of himself, giving those shadows room to sprawl across the floor. Don’t prepare yourself for something too serious, though. He jokes about getting dramatic and staring out at the rain, and there’s still a lightheartedness in the gentle trills and the playfulness of the percussion.
Sometimes sad songs are even more impactful when they don’t necessarily sound all that sad on the surface level.
On June 26th, you can catch his debut EP Who Is Dovey? on Innovative Leisure.
You can follow Lionel Boy on Instagram and listen here.