Meg Lui reveals details of Sufjan Stevens-produced album, Instant Validation

Lui is a California-born singer-songwriter who was schooled at Boston's Berklee College of Music, spent time in the Brooklyn DIY scene, and is now settled in the Catskills. Speaking of the lead single, she says, "This song is about my aunt who was a huge Elvis fan. At first it was a very slow, sentimental song, but we sped it up for the final version - she was a very joyful person, so it made sense for it to feel a little bit like a party." The track features Stevens and Liam Kazar on backing vocals, and arrives with a video directed by Joe Raffanti.

“Elvis Queen” follows two earlier glimpses of the record, “Gone Girl” and a cover of The Cranberries’ “Dreams”, both released earlier this year. The wider album draws on a community of Hudson Valley players, including Hannah Cohen, David Lizmi, Sam Evian, Chris Holdridge, and Lui’s longtime partner Keenan O’Meara, many of whom Lui has collaborated with before. Stevens engineered the sessions and played nearly all other instruments, shaping a sound that Lui says broke her out of old habits.

“In the past I’ve tried to fit into some sort of Americana or indie mould, and it always felt a little flat to me,” she explains. “With Sufjan there was so much more out-of-the-box thinking, and we ended up adding layers upon layers that created an unrestrained soundscape for the record.”

Lyrically, the 12-track LP navigates the turbulence of your mid-30s: love, familial bonds, technology’s grip, and arrested development. “I think my songs tend to sound like I’m giving advice, but most of the time I’m actually talking to myself,” she says. “A lot of these songs came from feeling like I’m perpetually stuck and wasn’t growing as a person, and when I listened back I realised so many of the lyrics are about finding the courage to go ahead and live my life and not wait for this industry.”

That theme sharpened unexpectedly when Lui became pregnant in the final stages of production. The album now arrives as she begins what she calls “an unprecedented new chapter.” Its title, Instant Validation, doubles as a wry nod and a refusal: the record itself argues for making things on your own terms. “One of the biggest takeaways from creating this record was that ‘Making things feels good, so go ahead and make what you want and don’t take yourself too seriously,’” Lui says.

Instant Validation artwork

Instant Validation tracklist

“Gone Girl”
“Elvis Queen”
“Roadkill”
“Dreams”
“Are You Out There (crimson & clover)”
“Instant Validation”
“Miss Queen Know It All”
“Andromeda”
“Monumental”
“Time Thief”
“Formation (of me)”
“Bluebird”