Alice Phoebe Lou Unveils “The Surface, A Tender Love Song Told in Reverse

Continuing to peel back the layers of her most intimate stories, singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou has released her newest acoustic single, “The Surface.” A poetic, stripped-down ballad of vulnerability and connection, the track blooms gently with each note—telling a story of love in reverse, beginning at the end, where hearts are open and walls have fallen away.

“‘The Surface’ is a stream of conscious love song about the deep and contradictory feelings that rise up when exploring a connection with someone you feel strongly about,” says Lou. “It goes through the many phases of holding back and then giving in, starting at the end when someone is finally all in. It talks of the hardships that one has gone through in order to arrive at a place where there is promise of a future and a deep connection and trust. It’s the melting away of our hard outer shells to reach the softer place beneath where we let go and allow ourselves to love and be loved. With just voice and guitar, the music is stripped down and bare like the song.”

With only her voice and guitar, Lou leans into simplicity, an approach that mirrors the folk greats she’s long admired, from Joni Mitchell to Nick Drake. It’s also part of a deeply personal project: a series of songs that never made it onto her albums, now finally seeing the light of day in their purest form.

Her April release, “You and I,” marked her first fully self-produced track, and “The Surface” follows with the same quiet courage, introspective, tender, and luminous.

Fresh off sold-out shows in Los Angeles and a performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre alongside Remi Wolf, Lou is now on the road for her European tour. And with every note she plays, she continues to remind us: there’s strength in softness, and beauty in baring your soul.

Listen below:

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