Kevin Bronson on March 17th, 2022

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L.A. native Holland Belle spent four years as lead singer in the dream-pop outfit Nightjacket, but she was a folk artist before that. And, as it turns out, after.

Belle departed Nightjacket in 2020, eventually ending up in Catskill, N.Y., focusing on her solo venture and recording her debut album, “Bird Song,” out May 13. “Arrow” is the lead single and the album’s opening track, entering gently like morning light through a window before brightening her with full vocal shimmer.

The album has its roots in Berlin, where she lived for a time prior to Nightjacket’s 2019 debut album. Belle tells of a goldfinch that alighted outside her window one morning. She recorded the bird’s melody, growing it into something bigger.

A few years later, Belle was recording the songs inspired by the moment at Basement Floods Records in the Catskills, with Dante Bardo producing and Alex Wernquest engineering. She ended up packing her bags and moving to New York — her debut EP wasn’t called “Wanderlust” for nothing.

Of the single, Belle says, “At its heart, ‘Arrow’ is about taking a journey. The battles won and lost, the lovers encountered, and the solitude of the open road. Where our hero arrives at the end … is up to the listener.”

||| Stream: “Arrow”

||| Previously: “Grow Towards the Light,” “Lovely Ghost”