On telling an artist they made the album of the year
Reflections on hearing This is Lorelei's Box for Buddy, Box for Star in Detroit.
I was trying to think of the specific reason why I decided to approach Nate Amos and tell him why I thought he made the best album of 2024, but I honestly can’t remember now.
Anyway, I decided to write about seeing him live recently when another big thing in my life — the Detroit Lions’ shortened playoff run — unfolded simultaneously. Therefore, let us call this writeup This is Lorelions!
Amos and the touring members of his band This is Lorelei had just ripped through a business-like set Saturday, Jan. 18 at Lager House in Detroit, playing the band’s breakthrough album Box for Buddy, Box for Star in full. After briefly leaving the cramped stage area of the cozy venue to check on the developing implosion that was the Lions game in the bar area, I noticed Amos was wrapping up speaking with a pair of fans.
Prior to the show, I had mentioned to my wife that I might pull Amos aside and briefly tell him how much I enjoyed the album this year. There was also an interview he did with Arielle Gordon for The Creative Independent that I thought perfectly captured his creative process and motivation for structuring the album the way he did. If he didn’t seem too busy, I told her, I would briefly mention both things to Amos and thank him for the tunes. Nothing sappy. Just a 42-year-old dude offering a quick ‘atta boy, hoping to not sound like an idiot.
If you are one of several critics who have heaped praise on Box for Buddy, Box for Star on your own personal year-end lists, the points on what make the album great are pretty agreed upon at this point. The songs are varied in style within the indie rock genre, dabbling in country, electronic, classic rock, piano ballads, Elliot Smith tributes and rollicking stream of consciousness lyrics that are funny, absurd and sincere when strung together.
Amos says he knew at some point he wanted Box for Buddy, Box for Star to be an archetypal album between 40 to 45 minutes in length. It had to have "Enough songs so that it feels like a true album, but not enough that you’re sick of it by the end," he told Arielle Gordon for The Creative Independent.
Box for Buddy, Box for Star’s songs were constructed and arranged in a specific way that creates a "funnel” leading to a more unified sound and theme as the album progresses, Amos said. It builds steam and gets catchier by the song, aided by Amos' songwriting process that included recording voice memos of himself humming while on walks, resulting in the earworm melodies for the songs Dancing in the Club and All Fucked Up.
The album seriously, but not so seriously, takes you into dark territory. Amos said he intentionally wrote it after quitting smoking weed daily for the past 15 years, with the question of whether it would stunt or inspire his ability to create on mind. Abstaining from smoking and other substances apparently opened the floodgates that gave Amos way too much material to use on one album - in the vicinity of 32 songs. It also gave him a wide range of material that allowed him to make This is Lorelei’s first full-fledged album.
It’s a weird but somehow effective combination of being very earnest, but also very much a bit, as Amos describes it, and you’re never quite sure which is which. It lovingly and thematically leans into and pokes fun at the traditional singer/songwriter stereotypes in his lyrical choices. Amos’ humor takes some of the sting out of the album’s wincing reflections on debauchery and addiction. It’s a potent mix of emotions that feels like a hard-earned triumph over addiction, allowing Amos to land lines like And I don’t know where my past has been/But my future’s been here all along and But a loser never wins/And I'm a loser, always been, on the same album.
It makes for a great listen that allows you to go deep into weighing all the metaphors of God, Satan, light, dark, angels and wings, money and gasoline. What are Blue Lights, by the way? Are we talking Labatt? And who is this boy, Limbo? There’s a lot you can get into the weeds with and still come away puzzled, but for me, that’s precisely the fun.
Or you can just choose to hum along to its endlessly catchy melodies.You get the sense that Amos likes what he ended up with - a potent batch of 10 emo-ish, indie rock tunes from across its microgenres that have put his songwriting talents fully on display. For people who love it, the answer to which song is their favorite on the album is different with every listen.
That’s what we got at Lager House, a great environment where Amos and the band seemed perfectly comfortable playing Box for Buddy, Box for Star’s 10 songs in succession. There was no veering into several of Amos’ other albums or EPs he’s recorded under the name normally reserved for songs that didn’t fit on his other projects, Water From Your Eyes and My Idea. This was what the people came to hear.
The album’s arrangements that country-fied tracks like Angel’s Eye as well as the electronic elements were played as a backing track in the live setting, resulting in slight variations of the originals. While they didn’t hit quite the way they do on the album, it often wasn’t to the detriment of the songs. Album standout Dancing in the Club, for instance, received more of an alt-rock treatment, with Amos strumming an acoustic guitar to it. The play was focused but carefree without being overly expressive.
The band played in a way that gave reverence to the songs, acknowledging this is Amos’ best set of songs yet after more than 60 releases on Bandcamp. Amos’ only real banter with the audience was to express his apologies for the show being on during the Lions game that was not going so well at the time. As a Broncos fan himself, he said, he was empathetic to heartache in the post-John Elway era. Closing out his set as expected with An Extra Beat for You and Me, the full but small crowd politely pleaded for one more song, with Amos returning to unveil a new, untitled acoustic tune that sounds like it could be another winner.
Afterward, I walked over to tell Amos I enjoyed the show, that his album was my favorite of 2024 and that his explanation of how the album took shape provided a lot of clarity in helping me understand why it feels like such a classic.
When you finally nail down the process you’ve been seeking as an artist, yielding the best album of your career, I’d say it’s worth telling someone so. Amos politely listened intently and thanked me before we shook hands and joked about the timing of his show coinciding with a room full of fans wallowing in their misery during an unexpected playoff game collapse. “It just sort of is what it is, you know?” he said with a wry smile. Trust me, Nate. Lions fans know.
Great album indeed! Hope to catch the live show sometime.