Americana Highways brings you this song, “Let It Go,” from James Houlahan’s upcoming release The Wheel Still in Spin, produced by Fernando Perdomo (Linda Perhacs, Jakob Dylan). With Houlahan on guitar and vocals, Perdomo on bass and keyboards, the album also features Danny Frankel (Lou Reed, Fiona Apple, Nels Cline) on percussion and drums. Esther Clark sings backup vocals.
Houlahan sings a sorrowful “Smothered in the night but how it burns upon my skin, the flickering of the light” with Clark’s lilting vocals riding above: “let it go.” The pain of human reluctance to let things go that we once loved is palpable in this little gem.
This song emerged out of a feeling, a mood. When it’s late night and you’re still awake, there’s a kind of quiet that becomes really immersive. I had this image in my mind of a woman alone, staring out her apartment window at a neon sign blinking and humming in the urban darkness. That was it. Just a picture. Sometimes that’s all I need. Or all it needs, I should say. — James Houlahan
The album will be available Friday, but you can have a listen today, right here!
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