By Erin Lyndal Martin
In an Earlysville log cabin, Lowland Hum’s husband-and-wife duo has been finding new ways to make the thoughtful art-folk that’s gotten them this far. Daniel and Lauren Goans have prolifically released their own music (including gutsy projects like a full-album cover of Peter Gabriel’s So), and their latest project, From Self With Love, comes out September 21.
From Self With Love is a melody-heavy meditation delivered mostly in Lauren’s warm, nurturing voice. Though a lot of the songs were written while caring for their mentor, Al Brilliant, they’re not full of darkness and grief. Instead, compassion and acceptance floods the album that’s more invested in our relationships as a whole.
Maintaining that spirit is a tribute to Brilliant, who Daniel met in 2009 while playing guitar at his bookstore. Their friend passed away in 2022 at 86, though Lauren says the age gap was never a factor in the relationship.
“Al was our best friend and our conversations were always profoundly clarifying and illuminating,” Lauren says. “Having such unusual open access to the heart and mind of someone who has lived through so much history was a kind of wealth we will probably never be graced with again. He maintained creative energy his entire life long, continuing his creative work up until the final three months of his life.”
During “the heaviest and hardest time of caring for our friend, we were both so depleted and wrecked and heartbroken,” Lauren remembers. One night she had a dream that brought solace and inspired the album title. “I dreamed we were in the largest airport in the world, and in the middle of it was a huge botanical garden, and in the middle of that there was a secret tea room,” she says. “Someone just walked up to me and gave me the key. I woke up feeling loved and cared for and like that dream was a gift from myself.” In “The Secret Tea Room,” a meditative drone fuzzes in the background as Lauren speak-sings the story of the space.
“The record is From Self With Love, as in you’re speaking to elements of yourself and telling them it’s okay to come back,” Daniel says, putting the record in context of transformation. “The songs ‘Sandrine’ and ‘Island Eyes’ are reaching out to parts of ourselves that we’re not sure have made it through everything. It’s about wondering if those things are still intact or if they can be preserved or if they are still buried. It’s obviously appropriate for things to ebb and flow within us. But certain things you want, certain things that are integral to who you are, that you don’t notice as much in your current state.”
“There is a kind of joyful lightness on the record. We felt freer musically. The songs created space for us to find new things about ourselves and how we put music together,” says Daniel. Initially, it was a challenge to have a new process. Earlier, they’d work on songs simultaneously in the same room. But as parents now of young children, being in the same room so much wasn’t viable, and they began sending a lot of files back and forth. “Together (In That Way)” is an orchestral waltz that Daniel and Lauren sing together in lovely harmony. The lyrics work equally well as interpreted to be about their new music-making process and also the way they connect in all relationships.
“Half Here” and “Half Gone” explore personal transitions and how, in a way, couples come to have less to offer each other. “Half Here” is a fingerpicked song that Lauren delivers with graceful vulnerability over soft percussion. Daniel sings “Half Gone,” an acoustic guitar ballad with Lauren singing backing vocals.
From Self With Love boasts a number of musical styles that share the same immaculate production and overall attention to detail. The Goans believe that quietness is underrated in contemporary concert and media contexts. With their own “quiet music,” they hope to showcase the depth and complexity of the form.
“It’s a mixture of challenging environments and our own experiences with people who make quiet music being heard in loud spaces or chatty crowds,” Lauren says. “We prefer to play the Southern because the crowd can be chatty at the Southern. There’s already a lot of space in the world for loud things. Festivals don’t want quiet music, and the music in TV and movies and on the radio usually isn’t quiet,” Lauren says.
The pair dreams of having a festival devoted to quiet music. It’s not in the cards for them now as parents, but they’re already considering what kind of lineup they’d like to have.
