Shannon Lay is an L.A. singer-songwriter whose work is of a plainspoken mysticism that goes to the small, bright truth of things, showcasing her unusual songwriting and quietly commanding voice.

Shannon Lay has been dominating the local scene in Los Angeles over the past few years, leaving everyone who witnesses completely breathless.

Lay’s 2021 Sub Pop album Geist is tender intensity, placeless and ethereal. It exists in the chasms of the present – a world populated by shadow selves, spiritual awakenings, déjà vu, and past lives. “Something sleeps inside us,” Lay insists on the opening track, and that’s the guiding philosophy throughout. A winding, golden, delicate thread of intuition that explores the unknown, the possibility.

Lay tracked vocals and guitar at Jarvis Tavinere of Woods’s studio, then sent the songs out to multi-instrumentalists Ben Boye (Bonnie Prince Billy, Ty Segall) in Los Angeles and Devin Hoff (Sharon Van Etten, Cibo Matto) in New York; trusting their musical instincts and intuition. She then sent those recordings to Sofia Arreguin (Wand) and Aaron Otheim (Heatwarmer, Mega Bog) for additional keys, while Ty Segall contributed a guitar solo on “Shores.”

‘Rachael Dadd is one of the most talented, wise, prolific and important women of our times’ Kate Stables of This Is The Kit

Living out half her life as a traveling musician in Japan, connecting with other people, cultures and landscapes; all this is a furnace for Rachael Dadd’s innovative song writing.

Last year, the wildly creative free-form songwriter released the studio album Kaleidoscope to critical acclaim. Her hope is that when people listen to Kaleidoscope ‘they will feel held and find space to breathe, grieve and celebrate.’ ‘The image of the sky appears many times on the album, representing boundless freedom from the struggles of being human’, says Rachael. ‘Music, too, provides escapism and freedom, and I like that while both music and the sky can be boundless, they are also containers to preserve all the very best things.’