Texas born, Portland-based songwriter Laith doesn’t want to dissect his songs, and he doesn’t want to tell you what to make of them either.
Raised by the sprawling suburban hurricane beyond Houston, Laith grew up in a close-knit neighborhood where he could knock on his cousins’ door, or take a short drive to see his grandparents on the Dickinson bayou to watch lightning fill up the pitch black night, entranced by the mystery of Clifton Chenier. By high school, his parents had moved the family to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, but the boredom of small town Colorado and isolation from his community left Laith longing for the richness of his early years. He channeled that longing into music, teaching himself the “Great American Dive Bar Songbook,” and honing his skills on one sticky stage after another before the age of 15. Fridays and Saturdays were spent in devotion to Lightning Hopkins, Gram Parsons, and Bob Dylan, and Sunday was spent in church. In the tradition of the great Texas songwriters, Laith tows the line between sacred and profane – the tension between the pew and the barstool nearly pulling him apart. Somewhere in that chaos is where he finds his focus. Eventually, he left Colorado and moved to Olympia before landing in Portland.
On his forthcoming debut album, Lightning (due out June 9th on Fluff & Gravy Records), Laith carries us across state lines from LA to Arizona, Colorado to Espanola, Houston to New Orleans, Utah on to the Pacific Northwest, tracing the path back to his childhood home on the Texas Bayou, dreaming of lightning and of running these roads until the wheels don’t touch the ground. He burns along the asphalt until there’s none left. And that’s when Laith takes us beyond, on phantom track lines through the abstract geography of his mind. He flows seamlessly between railway signs and lost trains of thought, like a true American Surrealist.
The result is a 12-track traveling companion for the wild-eyed western mystic drifting along the winding highway, pulling off for all the old haunts – love, money, and hysteria. It’s outsider country rooted in the Texas songwriting tradition, buzzing with the subtle hum of northwestern psychedelia. And with a voice that literally sounds like smokestacks and lightning, Laith takes the listener from bar room to bedroom and back again, cruising along with the vibrant soundscapes of The Texas Birds. It’s a timeless sound laden with thundering pianos and padded with Rhodes and organ; dusty acoustic guitars and ghostly harmonies fade in and out of the ether; the spirited twang of the electric guitar and the raw wah thump of the clavinet squabble in the dark while the pedal steel takes to the sky; all held within the deep pocket of a dynamic rhythm section.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the standout track “Ghost,” which showcases Laith’s shimmering troubadour talent. Lush instrumentation comes from the far-off twang of the pedal steel guitar, simple yet dramatic piano, and soulful background vocals that add an element of spiritual awakening to the tune. Laith’s vocals are roadworn and vulnerable, complementing the slow build of this intimately beautiful work of Americana-folk.
Laith describes the inspiration behind the tune:
“The lyrics were written in traffic. Traffic feels really arbitrary and yet a necessary beat in the American city. This song came together pretty easily with the band, which I guess is a good sign. It makes me remember that things can be really close at their inception, but always have the chance to fluctuate between near and far. Something that makes so much sense now can be unfathomable the next day, so on & so forth…”
LISTEN:
