Reed Turchi - Lovers from Other Lives

Side B from When You're Lost It's All A Sign 7" out on Fat Elvis Records

Credit: Alissa Whelan

"From the opening moments of cicada chorus and "I grew up on the mountainside..," this song is dedicated to coming back home, and to the girl who brought me back. Each verse is a chapter, from childhood, to high school, years chasing the twin yellow lines of the world, and then finally, the return.

After the cicadas and distant slide that start the song, the melody was inherited from an old-time Appalachian banjo lullaby, with the intertwined electric guitars of the chorus influenced by the spiritually uplifting, road-ready language spoken between Duane Allman and Dickey Betts in those early, unforgettable Allman Brothers songs.

The title, "Lovers from other lives" itself refers to a series of letters I traded with that same girl through high school, of imaginary lives, places, and meetings---though, ironically, it would be years before we actually got to know each other--back from the past, out of thin air, yet as if no time had passed. This was the first song written for the 7", and it served as the mental and musical bridge to "When You're Lost It's All A Sign," which ended up as the title track. When I'm out on the road, as is usually the case, these are the songs that transport me back."