Ness Lake – i lean in to hear you sing / bl0ss0m | Single Premiere
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SELF-released
Like many people, the first time I went to New York was an event. Not only was I going to visit the greatest city in the world for the first time at the ripe age of 28, but I was also going to visit my long-distance girlfriend and meet her family. It was a lot to take in, prep for, and look forward to. At the time, I was fresh off a Succession binge and even had my own little dorky playlist of New York-themed songs to hype myself up for the journey. I had no idea what to expect, but the trip went swimmingly. My girlfriend, a NY native, took me all over Brooklyn and Manhattan; I saw Coney Island, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, and ate some of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life. One night I also had a drug-induced panic attack.
In a classic case of not knowing my limits, one night, I found myself wide awake at 3 am, petrified with fear, staring at the ceiling of our Air BnB as she slept soundly beside me. Physically everything was perfect and still, but the inside of my head was a panicky horror movie where I was continually experiencing my own death. Eventually, my restlessness woke her up, and I had to explain what was going on. In a moment of complete compassion and love, she put on some Yo La Tengo and sleepily talked me through another hour or so of Generally Bad Vibes until we both passed out in the early hours of the morning.
This was a formative experience for me and not something I ever want to put myself or my partner through ever again. It was also a pivotal moment in my relationship – this person I’d only known for a few months was sweet and caring enough to talk me through this experience. It was love.
The newest songs from Ness Lake stem from a similar brush with the psyche that bandleader Chandler Lach experienced at the end of 2021. After experiencing the intense realization that all relationships ultimately end in either breakups or death, Lach began reflecting on the series of failed relationships that led him to this point in his life.
Anyone that’s had even one relationship gone south can likely relate to concluding that they are the problem. Of course, every relationship (should be) 50/50, and the weight can never entirely be placed upon one person’s shoulders, but still, when one finds themselves looking back at a string of bad breakups and failed partnerships, it’s hard not to think that you are the common denominator. As Lach puts it, he grew to expect every relationship to fail and learned to avoid vulnerability in the process.
His solution? Lean in.
“i lean in to hear you sing” is the title track, lead single, and mantra-like sentiment that Lach has been returning to ever since that panic attack he experienced two years ago. In the wake of these personal realizations (and the dissolution of yet another relationship), he arrived at the conclusion that “leaning in” and committing is the answer.
It’s easy to avoid intimacy, love, or a real relationship when you’re sure it’s going to fail from the outset. It’s also easy to find yourself in a “relationship” that is more emulation than truthfully sharing yourself with another person. You can feel like you’re getting all the benefits of a relationship on paper, but it’s merely a superficial checking of boxes that robs you of genuine connection.
“i lean in to hear you sing” is a melodic and earwormy bedroom emo song with a chorus that has embedded itself deep in my brain after only a few listens. First laid out in a demo two years ago, the mind behind Ness Lake spent the intervening time returning to his own words and bringing them to life through multiple iterations, eventually culminating in this final version of the song.
According to Lach, he and Marco Aziel (of Kiss Your Friends) spent about two years wringing the best out of these songs, thinking through every single aspect of the music, and figuring out how these sentiments could come to life visually. The music video is a kaleidoscopic swirl of colors pulled directly off the album art, all pulsating in time with the music as hand-written MS Paint lyrics guide the viewer past 3D Blender models and home video footage.
The second part of the band’s new double single is “bl0ss0m,” a tune that first appeared on an EP called marry the moon in 2021. While the first version of this song was a shaky and inward acoustic track, the newer rendition is considered and confident with electronic elements that sputter to life over the course of its three minutes. When compared to its original incarnation, “bl0ss0m” ends up being a perfect showcase for the artistic and personal growth that its creator has undergone in the intervening years.
Similarly concerned with love and connection as its counterpart, “bl0ss0m” is about how you have to work for the beauty and love you find in your life. In Lach’s words, “If the conditions aren’t right, you have to be prepared for things to die.” Again, this song strikes upon the notion that your relationships have to be an intentional endeavor. In this way, both “i lean in to hear you sing” and “bl0ss0m” are perfect companions.
Together these two tracks make an exciting update from Ness Lake and provide a perfect amuse-bouche for the project’s upcoming 14th album, which releases in-full next week on May 4th. Both “i lean in to hear you sing” and “bl0ss0m” will be available on all streaming services tomorrow.
