Los Angeles indie rocker Lael Neale has signed to Sub Pop, with plans to release new music in 2021. She’s getting a jump on that today with new single “Every Star Shivers In The Dark,” a haunting but upbeat buildup that casts Neale’s evocative lyrics against extended organ chords and a slowly intensifying rhythm, then dissolves into a gorgeous twinkling denouement. “Sailors seek harbor on a lone seashore/ Leaving the known for something more/ I am a pilgrim too.” she sings. “I might be leaving you/ ‘Cause I am a pilgrim too.”

On Bandcamp, Neale shared this statement:

This is my ode to Los Angeles, which always felt to me like the outskirts of Eden. I would walk a lot in the city, go from Dodgers Stadium into Downtown — along Alameda. Up in the hills, I’d look out at the vast sprawl and feel daunted. But Los Angeles is not as it appears. Even in moments of isolation, I have looked for communion with strangers and, almost always, found it. These were the scenes and feelings swirling around when I was challenging myself to write a song using only two chords.

Watch her self-directed “Every Star Shivers In The Dark” video below.

“Every Star Shivers In The Dark” is out now on Sub Pop.