In the song, “Mighty Soul”, Langhorne Slim sings, “Someday the world might come and blow your house down. First a tornado then a plague.” Blunt, accurate and put to a happy melody, that connection to what we’ve all gone through this year is truly healing. But I’ve always felt that way about Langhorne Slim’s songs. I saw him the day after Leonard Cohen passed away and he played a song he had written upon hearing the news of his death. It didn’t have a name yet but he said it was a love song to love. It showed up on his 2017 album, Lost At Last, Vol. 1 as, “Never Break”. I wasn’t surprised to see all of the music that’s been pouring out of him this year, but I didn’t know he’d recently gone through a year-long period of not writing. Last December, Slim entered a program that helped him on a path to healing from a battle with clinical anxiety disorder and prescription drug abuse. Not long after he’d returned to Nashville, the tornado hit, days later, Covid. A close friend suggested he try writing a song every day. Slim has a way of making you feel like you’re right there with him, at least that’s how it’s been for me, and likely for the nearly 50,000 Instagram followers he’s been treating with videos of these songs from his East Nashville home. It turns out that was a way of healing for him as well.
Nashville based Dualtone Records, will release all 19 tracks of Langhorne Slim’s new album, Strawberry Mansion, January 29th, 2021. In the holiday spirit of giving, they’ve just released 9 of those tracks as Strawberry Mansion Side A. I’ll talk to Langhorne Slim on the Local Brew Hour in January around the release of this, his seventh album. In the meantime, here are two from the new album, including the video premiere of “Lonesome Times”, “Mighty Soul” and, I had to include “Never Break”.
As he was writing and posting songs to Instagram, whether he liked them or not, Slim said he didn’t think he was writing for an album. It was a way to try to reignite his creative flame… with a 19 track album ready for release, I’m glad to see it worked. Here’s the first look at the video for “Lonesome Times”, out now on Side A.
Langhorne Slim - “Lonesome Times”
The album’s lead-off track, “Mighty Soul” relates a rather apocalyptic scene; tornado, a biblical-level plague, a dysfunctional government. But ultimately, it’s a song of hope that calls for healing through community and knowing that we really can all make a difference. Slim remarked, "Mighty Soul is the idea of a connected consciousness of love. Our higher form that I believe all (or most all) humans share but are distracted and beaten down by the daily grind, rat race, greed, conformity, politics of fear and division etc. … there's beauty in the madness for those open to see and receive it. I have faith!"
Langhorne Slim - “Mighty Soul”
From his 2017 album, Lost At Last, Vol. 1 - “Never Break”
Side A is out now, the full 19-track album, Strawberry Mansion is out January 29th on Dualtone.
