Adam Lytle - Altars (2025)

New York singer-songwriter Adam Lytle’s sophomore LP release, “Altars” builds on his 2023 debut “This Is the Fire“, in its exploration of the human condition. Although the album covers a range of musical styles, it is dark lyrically, which suits Lytle’s voice well. Generally having a harder edge and being more rock-based than “This Is the Fire“, “Altars” ably demonstrates the progression in Lytle’s music over the intervening two years. There are useful comparisons to be made with the music of Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Scott Walker and Nick Cave; there’s much sadness, but accompanied by some really good tunes.

All of the songs featured on “Altars” were written by Adam Lytle, while Jonathan Schenke handled production. Lytle sings and plays nylon string acoustic guitar, and Schenke contributes piano and synth, alongside guitarist Cameron Kapoor, William Logan (drums), Kevin Copeland (bass), percussionist Mauro Refosco, vocalist Kristina Moore, and multi-instrumentalist Oli Deakin. Recording took place at Figure 8 Recording and Studio Windows in Brooklyn, NY.

‘Savage Thunder‘ kicks off the album in strong fashion; it’s moody and appears to be about sirens of the sea, beginning with a strong, incessant riff before the vocal arrives “Out along the roaring tide, kicking up a dreadful noise, there’s a woman, she can bring the sky to tears, harness lightning to her heels, with a whisper“. Poor Lytle’s fate is sealed, as he sings “and her heart beats through me, like a hammer strike, savage thunder, and her voice is a siren, calling from the white-waved sea, pulling me under, and I’m begging you please, set me free, from her maddening singing“.

‘Lead on Desire‘ has a riff that is reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2‘; it’s again very dark and brooding lyrically, beginning “teacher, promise me wisdom, ghost of some golden vision, raven, speak and I’ll follow, aching down your dark hollow“, then the chorus comes in “I want, I need my fix, kneeling, broken and sick, float me free of these spires, lead on, desire“. Somewhat lighter musically is ‘Sister Wave‘, with a catchy chorus, however the lyrics depict something else; “blessed by a blood river shaman, bathed in my portion of fire, lost in the valley of shadow, there, I’ll look death in the eye“, then “gonna slip away in the dead of night, float on sister wave ’til the river cries, gonna slip away in the dead of night, float on sister wave ’til the river cries“.

By now you’re perhaps getting the impression that there’s a lot going on in the songs of this record. A dictionary definition of the word ‘dark’ may suggest unhappiness, unpleasantness, pessimism or even something sinister and those terms pretty well describe much of the subject matter. While being dark, the lyrics are extremely well written; there’s a poetry to them that makes you believe the scenes that Lytle is setting, no matter how unsettling this is or how uncomfortable it makes you feel. Lytle says of the record “It’s a raw and unrelenting record but there is a strange, fragile beauty throughout” and it’s hard to argue with his assertion.

‘That Was Me‘ is driven by a hypnotic riff that wouldn’t be out of place on a heavy rock record; the riff is appropriate to the subject, that being someone betrayed. ‘Heaven‘ is an uptempo, rhythmic delight with a mesmeric bass line and guitar playing which mixes the melodic and the savage; trying to stay still while listening to this cacophony is futile.

The album’s first single release was ‘Black Masses‘, a song with a prominent, bubbling bass line and a repetitive chorus, the subject? Black masses. A lovely nylon-stringed acoustic guitar underpins ‘Nothing Lies Beyond‘, which is relatively gentle, as is the LP’s closing track ‘Sea of Tears‘, which again features nylon-stringed acoustic guitar; it’s a tragic tale.

If you let it, this record will draw you in, you’ll invest in the characters and situations portrayed in the songs; it’s a proper rollercoaster ride, leaving you emotionally exhausted at its conclusion (if not before). In some ways, this is similar to the work of Amigo the Devil (the professional name of Danny Kiranos), in the clever use of words to describe dark subjects; however, whereas Kiranos uses black humour to accentuate the dark, twisted subject matter, Lytle goes for the jugular.