The latest wonderful curiosity dredged up by reissue label Light In The Attic is L’Amour, a 1983 album by a whispery balladeer using the mononym Lewis. It’s a collection of impressionistic ballads built from airy synths, piano, and acoustic guitar and guided by fragile masculine vocals not unlike Arthur Russell. Apparently it was first distributed as a private press record and remained in obscurity until collector Jon Murphy discovered it in an Edmonton flea market three decades later. He passed it on to private press enthusiast Aaron Levin, who shared it on the internet and set off a search for information about the man behind the music. That search eventually yielded a possible identity for Lewis — a potential con artist named Randall Wulff — but he and his album remain utterly mysterious. Maybe it’s better that way, mystique intact. Opening track “I Thought The World Of You” is gorgeous, so listen below.

L’Amour is out 5/13 on CD and 6/24 on LP via Light In The Attic. Get more details on the story behind the album and preview the other tracks here.

Note: I wonder how the modern-day female singer who also goes by Lewis, whose single recently made it into The Week In Pop, feels about this guy blocking her shine.