lewloh’s latest album “michigan/missinghim” is a nod to the Great Lakes State and one of the most primal emotions — love.

To switch up a quote from “The Book of Love” by The Magnetic Fields, some love songs are “just transcendental” and some are “just really dumb”. However, Loh’s latest album titled “michigan/missinghim” is neither insipid (here is to you, Dave Matthews Band) nor overtly dramatic (sorry, Celine). If we could speak on behalf of Loh, we would say that it is factual in its depiction of love, a collection of tunes that gets what is right about the emotion — cannot live without it, kind of scared of it but is a great shot of dopamine regardless.

“I’ve gone through my fair share of honeymoons and heartbreaks, but what I believe I have to look forward to, is a love that is less impulsive and dramatic — and more stable. This is mostly my fault, [laughs] because I fall in love too quickly and tend to love too deeply too soon. What would happen if I didn’t say ‘I love you’ only after two weeks?”

“michigan/missinghim explores the life cycle of a ‘terminal’ love that allows one to experience highs, doubts, regrets and also brutal honesty. The latter being a quality that I value in my relationships, even though sometimes it may be the source of the pain. I’ve been dropping singles from “michigan/missinghim” before the full launch of this album because I wanted to share with my listeners bits and pieces of the narrative in the full album. These days, a full-length album can be quite overwhelming to consume in one go, and so I’m hoping the singles provide enough context to the listener to then decide if they are invested enough to check out the full album when it comes out. A major theme of this album is long-distance love, and Michigan was where a lot of that love was explored.“

“michigan/missinghim” clocks in at about 35 minutes, the duration of a mid-afternoon nap or an episode of a show on Netflix, or four sessions of crying (Elsevier, a publishing company has done the math). Three titles that are a soothing respite for Loh’s fans — “summer boy”, “cold these days” and “galaxy” have been lauded for their gentle intimacy.

 

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A rare breed of music that one can lean on and loop when he is at his most fragile. Unsurprisingly, lewloh is saving the good stuff for later.

“My favourite track is probably ‘terminal’. I wrote this song with my friend Gabbi Gotts two weeks after a breakup and was talking about how I knew deep down from the start, that it was a temporary love. During the production phase, I reached out to Julia Gartha and asked if she wanted to perform on this track with me — and I’m sure you’d agree that she made the track beautiful!”

“What has changed most with this album is the intention behind my music. I used to write impulsively and even though it was still honest, it may not have always been fully dissected emotions. Instead, it was a splatter of ideas put together. With ‘michigan/missinghim’, every musical decision from lyrics, instrument choice to the visuals is intentional. Even entering the writing room/sessions, I already knew what I wanted to write about and I believe that helped us inject more detail into each song.”

“This upcoming album couldn’t have come into fruition without the hands and minds of my hardworking friends — two main protagonists are Baerd and Joshua Evan Lee. Music is way more fun when you collaborate and work with people. After all, isn’t music about connecting anyway?”