‘God Take Me Out of LA’ is Eliza McLamb’s Country Homecoming
Eliza McLamb prays to leave LA,
co-released with a new recording about the journey there
Honoring the sound of her southern roots, Eliza McLamb’s new single “God Take Me Out of LA” is a country-leaning prayer to leave the desert for somewhere that reminds her of home. It’s a feeling she’s hinted at in songs before (“Strike”), calling California a “barren desert wasteland,” because though she may call it home, it doesn’t have the comfort of four seasons and grassy countryside.
In parts of the song, she says “mostly it’s workin’ out fine” which seems to make wanting to leave harder, even if it doesn’t feel right to be there anymore because it’s only fine “except when for I want to know something like the earth.” But McLamb makes it clear where she feels most connected to her surroundings: “I need the snow to fall on me / I need four weeks of rain / I need to feel grass under my feet.”
PHOTO FROM ELIZA MCLAMB
This sentiment is one found in her earlier work, which she is, certainly non-coincidentally, re-releasing now as well. In “Lena Grove” (2020), Mclamb tells the story of her cross-country move marked by spiritual communions with nature.
Now being published with a full band backing, where it was once just McLamb and her acoustic guitar, “Lena Grove” mirrors her look to the natural for guidance: “I surrendered my sword to the midnight sky / the quiet composed itself and asked me why I’ve been fighting / Then the earth cracked once and gave me a bolt of lightning.” This powerful early-career track is made even more impactful by, again, pulling a southern twang against an echoing snare and layered guitars.
As is often McLamb’s lyrical way, within “God Take Me Out of LA” she acknowledges the difficulty and nuance of her feelings — she wants to go, but also at one time wanted to stay. She laments in the refrain, “It feels strange to ask / ‘cause I’m the one who wanted to stay / Not built for this / Can’t handle this / But I still can’t get away,” but that’s exactly why it seems she’s calling on divine intervention to push her to leave.
The song thins to just an acoustic in the end — aptly following how “Lena Grove” was once tracked — as she reflects on the lack of urgency in LA which cradled her indecision to stay or go. She sings, “That right there’s the problem / couldn’t make one single choice / And at the end of the day I’ll always say / God took me out of LA.”
Following her indie-pop, sometimes rock, album Going Through It, the warm sound of these country-esque recordings is a fresh listening experience from McLamb. It doesn’t conflict with her previous work, but it does exemplify her continual sonic growth, which has a sentimental circularity of coming back to a part of herself when growing out of another.
