Lana Del Rey’s Summer of Sorcery
Image credit: @honeymoon on Instagram.
‘White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter’ is the third single to be released from Lana Del Rey’s upcoming album. Initially announced in 2024, the record has since undergone several delays and name changes; what was Lasso became The Right Person Will Stay and is finally set to be Stove. It will (hopefully) be released later this year. Perhaps the only thing longer than Lana’s album rollouts is her song titles, with this latest one being relatively short in comparison to tracks off her last album. My thoughts are with anyone asking their Alexa to play ‘Grandfather please stand on my shoulders of my father while he’s deep-sea fishing’.
The first two singles from this album cycle embrace a similar ballad sound to Lana’s last LP Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, with introspective meditations layered over soft strings. Whilst retaining these elements, White Feather has a much quirkier palette. Its mix of wyrd folk with dark jazz concocts a listening experience which feels both haunting and cinematic.
The track starts with a moody string section which samples Ella Fitzgerald’s 1964 jazz song ‘Laura’, establishing a disconcerting, film noir atmosphere. Leaning into the eerie sound of bell chimes, this orchestral opening sounds like what would precede any 1940s horror movie jumpscare.
These eerie strings are interrupted by soft guitar strumming and whispered musings, which has a similar sound to ‘A&W’, off Ocean Blvd. Del Rey boasts a pastoral summer romance: ‘I know you wished you had it a man like him, it’s such a bummer’, harking back to themes on her earlier albums Born to Die (2012) and Lust for Life (2017). The verses feel like a modernised version of Lana’s beloved Americana aesthetic.
As the song moves into the pre-chorus, Del Rey depicts a domestic lifestyle: ‘I wanted to know if I could use your stove to cook up something for ya’. Lana revisits themes she explores in her 2020 poetry collection Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, in which she uses simple rhythms to portray the beauty of monotony. Evidently her love for domestic chores was not a lockdown phase. Lana sings ‘I know it’s strange to see me cooking for my husband’, which is confusing. Between her poetry, her brief stint of employment at the waffle house in 2023, and her album literally being called Stove, I wouldn’t say that her cooking comes much as a surprise at this point.
When we reach the chorus, the tension finally snaps. Lana’s vocal inflections as she sings ‘positively voodoo’, ‘whoopsie-daisy-yoo-hoo’ sound like humming’s she would mindlessly make as she stirs her stewing cauldron. Whimsical strings and eerie arpeggios sound like they have been pulled from an old Disney cartoon, giving the track a haunting witchy edge. Lana tempts us into her dark lair of magical creation all the while reminding us that she is simply cooking.
In the second verse, Lana returns to her hushed whispering, singing ‘I got a nicotine patch for the summer’. This is perhaps a health move, perhaps a strategic one as Del Rey has been known to mobilise fans to search for her lost vape mid-concert. The bridge sees Lana combining her 1920s crooning with mentions of ‘picking daisies for Instagram’, a wonderful fusing of eras that perfectly encapsulates her persona.
Del Rey leaves us with a final chorus, behind which you can hear her whisperings from the first verse. This vocal overlaying brings White Feather’s enchanting ritualistic sound to a satisfying peak. We can only hope that the other sonic slices from Stove will be just as delicious.
Words by Mariella Patel