Holo Boy - This Is Lorelei Album Review

This Is Lorelei | by Al Nardo

If the past year has proven anything, it’s that Nate Amos doesn’t sit still for long. Between touring his 2024 album Box for Buddy, Box for Star, releasing the critically acclaimed record It’s a Beautiful Place with his band Water From Your Eyes, Holo Boy arrives as a gentle look back. The album pulls together reworked songs from the past decade of Amos’ catalogue, originally scattered across Bandcamp and other early releases, he is able to reframe them with a confidence that wasn’t always there the first time around.

What’s striking is how cohesive it feels for a record built of loose parts. Rather than chasing novelty, Amos lets the songs breathe, leaning into fuller arrangements and stronger vocals that bring the writing to the surface. Where these earlier versions often hid behind murk or irony, these new takes feel warmer and more open, especially on tracks But You Just Woke Me Up and Dreams Away, which gain a new emotional steadiness without losing their low stakes melancholy. The humour is still there, but it now feels less like a deflection and more self-aware.

Holo Boy doesn’t push for big statements or reinvention, and that’s exactly why it works. There’s an ease to the way Amos inhabits these songs now, as if he’s finally comfortable letting them exist. Some moments drift by quietly, others stick around longer than expected, but the record’s strength lies in its restraint. It plays like an artist taking stock rather than starting over, finding something meaningful in revisiting old ideas with clearer eyes. In doing so, Holo Boy quietly cements Nate Amos as a songwriter who knows when to move forward and when to take stock.

Words by Harry Birleson

Listen to lead single ‘Holo Boy’ on YouTube