Meg Lui’s fear of missing out

Photography by Josh Goleman After sitting on years worth of demos, Meg Lui’s friendship with Sufjan Stevens allowed her to finally let go and give her solo songs a life of their own. The California-born singer-songwriter had been teaching in the Catskill Mountains, which she and her partner, fellow musician Keenan O’Meara, have called home for over 12 years. Despite living so rurally and the constant flux of non-permanent residents, Lui’s debut album cannot help but reflect the resounding sense of community she’s built there. The sounds of the country band she’s currently in with friends and her obvious love of classic rock seep into the record, supporting her honest storytelling and introspective lyrics. With Stevens, the two of them seem to have pulled off composing something that’s “a little bit Americana-leaning” whilst tentatively commenting on the dissociative grasp of modern technology and Lui’s fears of missing out and wasting precious time.During the mastering of Instant Validation, Lui found out she was pregnant with her first child. While it was a more-than-slightly inconveniently timed surprise, what the record unequivocally reveals is that Lui has learnt to accept the ...