“It’s about having something to say,” says LA-based alt-rock legend, INGER LORRE. Often seen as a musician’s musician, Inger has worked with the likes of Iggy Pop, Jeff Buckley, and Henry Rollins; her notoriety has frequently eclipsed her darkly beautiful music which is reflected in her new album, GLORYLAND (release date: October 3, 2023), available now via Kitten Robot Records.
A collection of 10 new songs, Gloryland takes its cue from the looming mortality that streams through the elements of loss, despair and redemption that echo her own challenging life experiences. One way or another, Lorre connects with casual mastery – whether it’s with her collaborations over nearly twenty years of music-making or through vivid portraits of people’s lives (more than occasionally her own); her songs flow red with the essence of her lifeblood of real-life exchanges, experiences, and a need to express herself.
With Gloryland, Inger celebrates her unique voice with total freedom, crossing genres from singer-songwriter to Americana and gospel. Working with Nashville multi-instrumentalist Buddy Woodward, she creates gorgeous oceans of sound with esoteric string instruments, alongsideAngelique Congleton on bass, Eric Contreras on drums, Matt Lee on electric guitar,Jordan Shapiro on pedal steel guitar and Paul Roessler (Screamers, 45 Grave, Nina Hagen, Twisted Roots) on keyboards.
Tracks like, “Death is a Horizon,” set to haunting, measured vocals and ruminative gait, carried on dark currents of electric and acoustic guitars, serve as a thematic lynchpin of sorts, finding Lorre lamenting on life, death, and spirituality. “Death is a Horizon” is the sound of someone who has stared death down and exorcized her demons to emerge stronger.
The album opens with the fragile beauty of “More Real;” Inger says: “The song is about everything I knew in my heart unfurling right in front of me. It’s about the wisdom earned through suffering. I looked into becoming a monk, but I was one year too old to be accepted. I want to reject a society that’s vapid & superficial. There’s an innate strength to being female – don’t burn through your life without embracing every stage; maiden, mother, maga, crone”.
Inger laments with the track “Coldest Season,” “Everything you do wrong, I’ll try to right it, and every spell you cast, I’ll try to fight it; you are the single match that set my world on fire”.
Inger’s legacy remains haunted by the infamy of a band (the Nymphs) that burned brightly all too briefly before imploding in a devastation of bereavement and misguided record company dealings.
Her cult following remains loyal. While her releases are scarce, they are cherished (her previous release, Transcendental Meditation, is a remarkable solo album that includes a duet with Jeff Buckley). Infamous ‘80s New Wave musician Josie Cotton recently signed Lorre to her boutique label, Kitten Robot Records.
Jeff Buckley once called Inger Lorre the Patron Saint of Fucked Over Musicians. All these years later, she’s still walking through fire.
Like many of the intelligently written and beautifully human songs on Gloryland, Inger reflects on the boundaries of where our spirits are drawn into after dying, “‘Death is a Horizon’ is a beautiful song about the final frontier and the last adventure that we all will have someday. No one can go with you. It’s a solo journey with your own consciousness, a beautiful last trip.”
Gloryland is produced by Paul Roessler (Lords of Altamont, TSOL, Richie Ramone) andInger Lorre and will be released, today, October 3, 2023via Kitten Robot Records. It’s available on CD and vinyl HERE.
Gloryland is now available via Kitten Robot Records on DSPs including Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Pandora, YouTube and Amazon.
