Lionel Boy has essentially loped on to the scene: unhurried, but right on time, regardless. The Long Beach by way of Hawaii songwriter offers a pleasantly, gently delirious concoction, drifting somewhere between the lush, faded world of Brent Faiyaz with the bruised emotions of Father John Misty and just a smattering of Travis Scott, to boot. Sure, the three comparisons may sound absurd now, but this writer challenges you to listen to Lionel’s latest single, “Kam Highway”, and not see just where they stem from. He says:
“Back home in Hawaii, one of the main highways we have is called Kam Highway. For me, it connected the two places I grew up in—Waialua and Wahiawa. It’s my favorite drive in the whole world. I hadn’t done much previous work on my own with synths or beat making but it was something I’d been wanting to try. When I started working on the song, it sounded a lot like a long, dark road and the first one that came to mine was the one I’d been taking my whole life.”
Along with his delightful new single, and its drifting, melancholy video, he’s announced his debut album: the self-titled project will arrive May 14th.
Check out “Kam Highway” below
Lionel Boy’s debut album Lionel Boy arrives on May 14 via Innovative Leisure (pre-order/save). You can find him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
