Photo by Adan Carlo
Hannah Read formed Lomelda a few years ago in Waco and she often plays in Austin, but the project has its roots in the East Texas town of Silsbee. That’s where Read grew up (and still lives), and the music she makes can be heard as a reflection of small-town life. The songs on Lomelda’s 2015 debut Forever are unhurried and rambling, punctuated by tiny details that you’d miss if you were speeding pass. Those tiny details add up to some brilliant, quietly cathartic moments.
“Interstate Vision” reckons with a fact of Texan life: driving. In Read’s hands, dotted lines and hot concrete are both mind-numbing and vaguely spiritual. “Interstates are not want I want / headlights scare me into visions, ” she sings over a shape-shifting beat. “I saw an angel fly on white wings / guiding me home.” The song reverberates with folk tradition, but Read’s vision is undeniably her own.
“Interstate Vision” appears on Thx, out September 8 via Double Double Whammy. Lomelda plays the Barracuda on September 29.
–Art Levy // host, Sunday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., producer, My KUTX
