Launched a few years ago effectively as a solo project for ringleader Ian Williams, it’s abundantly clear that Lamplight wouldn’t exist without the warm sense of community that surrounds it. After releasing his Brooklyn-set debut in 2024, Williams will return this week with Lick the Spoon, Let It Soften, a new approach to indie-folk that reflects the more rural surroundings of Virginia, which the songwriter returned home to as the record came together.
The final single before the record’s release on October 23 via Western Vinyl is a sub-two-minute blast of guitar scuzz very nearly drowning out Williams’ preset slacker-Americana vocal stylings. The track’s music video only serves to emphasize the project’s communal feel by placing the artist among a table of houseguests digging into dinner as the camera pans in a continuous circle. “It touches on a familiar season, adding another ring to the tree one year at a time,” Williams shares of the track. “Things are changing, I’m getting older along with my friends’ kids, but we reliably come back to the yearly rituals that center us. I’m cleaning up after a group dinner, I’m dipping my toes in the river, I’m celebrating, I’m sun-soaked.”
Check out said group dinner—co-directed by Williams with drummer Dane Hagen—below, and pre-order Lick the Spoon, Let It Soften here. You can also catch Lamplight on tour at the dates listed here.
