Lick the Spoon, Let it Soften [LP]

Lamplight - Lick the Spoon, Let it Soften [LP]

Lick the Spoon, Let it Soften is the second album from Lamplight, the project of Virginia-based songwriter Ian Hatcher-Williams and his band of trusted collaborators, including members of Lightning Bug and hemlock. The 2024 self-titled debut drew praise from KEXP, Stereogum, WBUR, Brooklyn Vegan, and The FADER, landed on playlists from Apple Music, KEXP, and Numero Group, and led to shared stages with Jake Xerxes Fussell, Advance Base, John Andrews, and Mutual Benefit.

Where the debut took shape over several years, this record arrived quickly. Most of its songs surfaced during a song-a-day writing exercise one August, partly inspired by Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. The album was then produced and engineered entirely in-house at a lakeside retreat in Vermont, with a follow-up session in the city that winter. The result is communal and private at once: an album about grief and a transformed understanding of love in all its forms, featuring tighter arrangements and sharper songwriting than its predecessor. It's also unabashedly Appalachian — this isn't alt-country, but even its most textured moments carry a natural twang.