The songs on Jessy Lanza’s new LP Love Hallucination often take their inspiration from very particular moments. In Lanza’s illuminating track-by-track breakdown of the album she’s shared with us, she reveals the inspiration behind the way these songs work—and though there are songs of heartbreak and lament, many of the tracks dive into specific moments with great clarity and brilliant narration. I hope I don’t sound like a Friends devotee, but there’s the one about almost getting hit by a car after a move to LA, and there’s the one about missing Canada. There’s the one about getting a green card and there’s another one inspired by cult Detroit techno artist The Other People Place.
It’s a very specific album, but one that doesn’t sacrifice individuality for the sake of relatability. Lanza’s biggest lyrical strength throughout is her ability to tell stories deeply related to her own experiences in a way that feels universal. It stands out in large part due to its unparalleled production work—here she recruits Jacques Greene, David Kennedy, Paul White, Jeremy Greenspan, and Tensnake to assist. The new sounds are exciting, but her voice remains as unique as ever. The instrumental collaborators lend to her sound, instead of replacing it with their own.
According to a press release, Lanza “crafted Love Hallucination around the idea of being blinded by love but being self-assured enough to know your instinct matters, even if it takes time to make sense.” Her instinct here is as deeply inspired as her earlier releases, but the strength of Love Hallucination is in the way she creates a world that has both never been heard but sounds so wonderfully familiar.
With the record arriving today via Hyperdub, stream it below and read through the context she gives for each track below.
1. “Don’t Leave Me Now”
The story behind this song is that I moved to LA, went out for a walk, almost got run over by a car, and when I got home I wrote “Don’t Leave Me Now.” I couldn’t stop thinking about how close I had come to getting hit and my thoughts were bordering on obsessive so I wrote the lyrics to try and shake the feelings out. I thought it would be fun to make the melody a bit sing-song to lighten up the darkness of my thoughts and lyrics that day.
2. “Midnight Ontario”
I went deep in my memory banks for the lyrics of this song. I wrote it right after I moved keepsakes out of my mom’s house and happened upon old photos and letters which sparked memories of people I hadn’t thought of in a long time. “Midnight Ontario” is about a night I spent driving from my hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, to the casino in Niagara Falls on my 18th birthday. I finished the track but then I did a studio session with Jaqcues Greene and played it for him and he suggested we change up the drums to a two-step pattern which worked so well with the melody and chords. After Jacques did his thing with it, “Midnight Ontario” was truly complete.
3. “Limbo”
The demo for "Limbo" had been kicking around for a long time before I finished the album version with co-producers Tensnake and Pearson Sound. I wrote the demo for “Limbo” while I was waiting to get my green card. I couldn’t leave the country to see my family or play shows so I felt restless. At the time I had nothing to do but wait, so I wrote “Limbo” as a cathartic exercise and imagined what it would feel like to be in a holding pattern that never ends.
4. “Casino Niagara”
This song is a meditation on the dizzy feeling of being in a new relationship. While writing the lyrics I reflected on the high you get when you have an immediate attraction to a person and the feeling is mutual, so you both ride that wave of intensity together until it burns out. I love how the sonics of this track coalesce. When I sent the demo to Jeremy Greenspan he sent back a version with a massive bass line added and some subtle Nile Rodgers–style guitar playing which took the song to another level.
5. “Don’t Cry on My Pillow”
This is a breakup song and the intensity of my emotions helped the track to come together quickly. I love when that happens because it’s rare for me. I had the idea for the hook first and I wanted to use the classic pop song trick of repeating syllables to make the song memorable, so I did that on the word “pillow” which repeats in the chorus. Jeremy co-produced this track and the synths he added pushed the song firmly over the edge into sophisti-pop territory.
6. “Big Pink Rose”
I was living at my mother in-law’s house and was inspired by an impressive rose bush in her garden. It was mid-spring at the time, so the rose bush was in full bloom. The room I was writing in faced the rose bush so the image filtered into what I was working on that day. I remember recording vocals for the song and the house phone rang which I incorporated into the sample of the intro for the song. I was also listening to the song “Yummy” by Justin Bieber that day and I can hear its influence on the chord progression.
7. “Drive”
While messing around with my Prophet-5 I wrote the main synth melody for “Drive.” It reminded me of the album Lifestyles of The Laptop Cafe by The Other People Place, so that connection gave me the idea to turn it into an electro track to suit the synth melody. Jeremy worked on the track too, and he used his modular synthesizer to add unique percussive sounds to the breakdown section.
8. “I Hate Myself”
The first version of “I Hate Myself” was a lot different than the version that made it onto the album. Originally it was a lot faster and had too many lyrics. The song sounded really busy and the vibe wasn’t working for me, so I slowed it down and got rid of all the lyrics except for “I Hate Myself” and “You’re So Cool,” which I repeat throughout the song. This track is inspired by a YouTube video that takes the line "I hate myself" from the Prefab Sprout song "Wild Horses" and loops it to the image of a horse running in place.
9. “Gossamer”
Jeremy sent me the demo for this song and I fell in love with the FM synthesis energy of the track. It reminded me of Yellow Magic Orchestra in that it’s a true techno-pop song, so I took a cue from their style when I wrote the melody.
10. “Marathon”
While I was writing Love Hallucination I was also writing tracks for other artists. “Marathon” is one of those songs that I originally wrote for someone else and it got rejected by their team, so I kept it for myself because I really loved the song. Paul White co-produced it with me and had the idea of adding a sax solo—which I was on the fence about at the time, but once it was in the track I loved it so much. I played saxophone and clarinet all through school and the solo in “Marathon” inspired me to start playing the sax again for my live show.
11. “Double Time”
Going through old demos I found the drum pattern for what would become the foundation of “Double Time.” I love discovering forgotten bits and pieces of songs. The drums are big and reverb-y, and I immediately thought I should write a power ballad as the top line. I like the vocal effect on this track because it’s a delay that sounds like it’s going backward and forward at the same time. It’s a little bit nauseating, actually, but I think the lack of center really suits the mood of the track because I wrote it when I was feeling unsure about a lot of things in my life. Jeremy co-produced this track with me and added chords to the verse and chorus that add a melancholic sweetness to the song.
