song: "Into the wake, mystified" - Avery Leigh's Night Palace

If you need a brief respite from the hell that is our current news cycle — and who doesn’t at this point?! — Avery Leigh’s Night Palace (real name Avery Leigh Draut) is your escape. On the single, “Into the wake, mystified,” Draut takes us into uncharted territory, tunneling through a dream-like sequence of syrupy vocals, intoxicating strings, and a lush Instrumental presence that calls to you from its softest, whispered start.

Shortly after beginning, a section of fluttering woodwinds guides you deeper into Draut’s magic. Her hazy, honeyed vocals reflect on a person that’s unforgettable, singing of mysticism and the very real magic of feeling eternally intertwined with another. The single never grows stagnant or expected, with each second revealing some new undiscovered formula from spacey guitar work that echos and crashes with quiet force to a sensational flourish of keys. Draut spends much of the single reflecting on this memorable person, and in truth, the track will will leave listeners feeling much the same way about the singer herself.

Below, stream the single and read Draut’s accompanying thoughts on the track’s meaning:

photo: Bao Ngo

As Leigh explained of the single, “‘Into the wake, mystified’ is the first song off the album, and it’s always felt like a velvet curtain opening to me, an invitation into the world of the record. It got a total lyrical re-write the night I recorded the vocals. I’d sung the song eight thousand times live with lyrics that served as a sort of reassurance to a boyfriend at the time, but I found them ringing less and less like truth. Feeling tired and loopy and honest in the studio the night we recorded the vocals, I found out the song was about someone else and the gossamer thread that connects us to certain people in our lives forever, the kind that renders it impossible to quite fully stop holding a place for them. The song gives permission to dwell on than, celebrate it!, and move forward with joy/gratitude for the past, present, and future.”