Lorelei

This Is Lorelei Forms a Scattershot Vision on Holo Boy

Nate Amos revisits a decade of stray ideas and turns them into his most compelling record yet.

by Stephan Boissonneault

It’s easy to get swept up in the maelstrom of industry expectations—especially when your main band suddenly hits a new tier and everyone starts watching your every move. But Nate Amos, one half of alt-indie disruptors Water From Your Eyes, continues to carve out his own eccentric corner with This Is Lorelei, a project that still feels like a humble, delightfully odd songwriting experiment even as his profile rises.

His second full-length, Holo Boy, is part compilation, part reinvention: a collection of re-recorded songs that have followed Amos for the better part of a decade, stitched together with new material. Much like his debut Box for Buddy, Box for Star, the album dodges easy categorization. Amos moves from guitar-pop gems like “But You Just Woke Me Up,” “SF & GG,” and the stunning acoustic hammer-on lull of “My Friend 2” into more mischievous, hyperpop-leaning detours like “Mouth Man,” which playfully test the boundaries of his own sonic universe.

If Holo Boy reveals anything, it’s Amos as a creatively restless songwriter—one who leans into down-to-earth lyricism, straight-to-the-nerve melodies, and the occasional total curveball simply because he can. He refuses to sit still, and Holo Boy feels like the reward for that refusal. It’s a record that’s scattered in all the right ways, grounded by one singular mind pulling the strings.