Nate Amos Didn’t Expect to Be Called a Songwriter. Now He’s Reconciling That Reputation.

The useful part

"Now that I'm a songwriter, quote unquote …." Amos says offhand during a recent interview. the guy whose originals have been covered by Waxahatchee, Cameron Winter, Hayley Williams, Jeff Tweedy, and MJ Lenderman in the last 18 months alone. "I always thought of myself much more in terms of composition, production, and conceptual art," says Amos, who records as This is Lorelei.

How it works

• It was where he dumped whatever off-kilter pop tunes he was working on, posting them online for a miniscule audience.
• Somehow, the chill guitarist who likes to take the stage in camo Crocs and whatever Slipknot T-shirt he happens to be wearing that day has become something like the Carole King of 2020s indie rock.
• That's how it works in Water For Your Eyes, more or less, and he liked it just fine.
• I remember sitting there and being like, 'This is weird.'" Lenderman might have been the first high-profile artist to cover a This is Lorelei tune, but others soon followed.
• By the time Amos began recording The Singer in My Band, he'd become aware of this trend to the degree that it shaped how he wanted to present his new material.

What to take from it

"I remember laughing as I was writing it, because I was like, 'This is the cheesiest piece of bullshit ever,' which it kind of is. Things are happening so fast with it right now that I want to give that my full attention so I don't look away and it turns into something I don't want it to turn into." What might that be? He no longer feels like he has the time to see where those bad songs lead him.

Example or evidence

• who is also in the art-rock band Water From Your Eyes with vocalist Rachel Brown.
• treated This is Lorelei as a side hobby, his "safe, secret world," as he puts it.
• Now, he's trying to figure out what it means to turn that passion project into a fast-rising, for-real career.
• Band, the straightforwardly upbeat roots record he released this month, is the first example of what that might look like.

Details worth keeping

Why does one of the most widely hailed songwriters of recent years. "I kept bouncing off the bottom of the rabbit hole, and at a certain point it seemed like the most creatively aggressive thing I could do would just be to rubber-band all the way back to the most bare-bones type of songwriting I could muster. Leaning into the songwriter thing was almost like a conceptual exercise.

Related coverage

• Newyorker: Nate Amos writes songs that both embrace and lampoon dusty singer-songwriter tropes.
• Lecanalauditif: This Is Lorelei est le pseudonyme de Nate Amos de Water From Your Eyes lorsqu'il crée en solo.
• Forbes: Noah Kahan's The Last of the Bugs debuts inside the top 10 on three Billboard charts while his two most recent albums remain major hits.
• Hollywoodreporter: The 22-year-old singer-songwriter, who's having a breakout year with the success of his sophomore album 'Do That Again' and viral single "Earrings," doesn't want to "curate anything for anyone."
• Americansongwriter: the Rolling Stones When it comes to music genres, what's really in a name? Indeed, these are three beautiful country songs unexpectedly written by rock stars.