Austin’s Lady Dan aka Tyler Dozier is releasing her debut album I Am The Prophet in April, and following on from the stunning title track she has today shared another stunner called “No Home”. As discussed previously, Dozier attended Christian ministry school in Alabama before re-aligning her ideals, which is where we find her on the new track. Opening up about its inspiration, she reveals:
“‘No Home’ is the narrative of losing every comfort that was familiar to me, all at once. Mothers, fathers, partners, homes; stripped bare. In the grief, I was able to get a clear head, and learn how to take ownership of myself. This song is about the ending of a 4.5-year abusive relationship amidst losing my dad and becoming estranged from my mom. It’s funny, I wrote the guitar for this song when I was seventeen, and I want to say it was originally supposed to be a worship song. I revisited the instrumentals a few years ago, and these lyrics came pouring out. I suppose it was something I really needed to process through music.”
“Who were you to leave me? Who were you to go?”, she opens “No Home”, bringing her pain straight to the fore from the off. It’s a stark contrast to the confident and cutting Lady Dan we heard on “I Am The Prophet”, but Dozier is just as capable of overwhelming on this end of the emotional spectrum. Utilising mournful violins to harmonise with her pain, Lady Dan lays it all on the line: “four more years of maybe, no, there’s nothing left / nothing to write home about – there’s no home to write to at all.”
Despite the sheer vulnerability on display, Dozier’s voice remains powerful as she unveils her worries in a stunningly forthright manner. It’s this that carries her through to the finale of “No Home”, where we hear her urgently and thrillingly overcome these hurdles: “I’ve been reborn, I’ve got a new skin / I’m no longer a slave to all you patriarchal sins,” hitting those last two words with all the fury of someone who has had more than enough. “I’m so glad you left me / I’m so glad you’re gone / Now that you detest me, it’s so clear where I went wrong – with you,” she concludes, a victorious exhalation after a torrid – but utterly invigorating – purge.
On the video, Dozier says: “This is maybe the most vulnerable song on my record and I felt like there needed to be an equally vulnerable video to match it. I’m sure you can all tell by now, that I love symbolism and reading between the lines. I’m stripped naked (as naked as I can be without making my grandma cry) and left there in all of my discomforts. It felt important to use my friends in this video – they represent the support I found in my feminine friendships during my loss and recovery. So they’re seen redressing me and tearing the veil, so to say.”
Watch the clip below or listen to “No Home” on streaming platforms.
Lady Dan’s debut album I Am The Prophet arrives on April 23 via Earth Libraries. You can find Lady Dan on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
