Naming Horses is the debut album by Los Angeles via Charleston singer-songwriter Lane Hartley. Originally self-released in 2024, Royal Oakie Records is rereleasing the album as Naming Horses (Expanded) with the addition of two new bonus tracks. Produced by Adam Gunther (Sharon Van Etten, Olivia Kaplan, Dzang), the album reflects on queer love, addiction, and destructive relationships across thirteen indie-folk tracks, featuring contributions from Lukas Frank of Storefront Church, Gregory Uhlmann, Olivia Kaplan, and more.
The seeds for Hartley’s debut album were planted during 2020 when he moved to Asheville to finish up his last year of college after everything had gone remote. Soon enough he was teaching himself piano in his bedroom and finding his voice while caught in a moment of personal reflection during that time of profound isolation and stillness. Later, during a short stint in NYC he reached out to producer/musician Adam Gunther, and within two months he was on his way to Los Angeles to begin recording Naming Horses.
Out of the two bonus tracks being released with the expanded version of the album, “Looks Like Love” tells the story of a dysfunctional relationship. ”This song is about giving your body away to somebody who you cannot access. They see you as this person embodying everything they want to be, and so they take everything they can from you”, says Hartley. On the other hand, “Heaven Doesn’t Want Us Now (redux)” recasts the original album track in a new light. “When we were making the album, ‘Heaven Doesn't Want Us Now’ was the one track that took the longest to crack. After we recorded the version that's on the album I was curious to hear it in a more stripped down approach. I fell in love with both, and I’m glad this version is coming out now”, says Hartley.
Meanwhile, standout album rack “Underneath (ft. Storefront Church)” is about a claustrophobic co-dependent relationship. According to Hartley, “I sat down to write a love song, and this is what ended up coming out. It speaks to this sort of relationship that permeates the whole record. A closeness that feels too close.” Fittingly for an album conceived during a liminal time, title track “Naming Horses” encapsulates the fleeting nature of life itself. “Naming horses is the feeling of trying to tame, name, or control a brief moment in time, in order to feel like we have some ownership over the things that are out of our reach”, says Hartley.
The album was mixed by Jorge Balbi (Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten) and mastered by Joe Lambert, except for the bonus track “Looks Like Love” and “Heaven Doesn’t Want Us Now (Redux), which were mixed by Adam Gunther and mastered by David Glasebrook (Patti Smith, Michael Nau) at The Garden Shed in Oakland, CA.
