Sari Lightman Announces Solo Debut The Way I Saw You, Produced by Meg Duffy

Sari Lightman has announced her solo debut, The Way I Saw You, arriving next month via Night Bloom Records. The album was produced by Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, who also contributed to Lightman & Lightman’s 2024 record Sister Smile. It includes contributions from members of St. Vincent, Cola, Perfume Genius, and others.

The title track opens the album and is out now. “The Way I Saw You” leans into wispy melodies and celestial harmonies, with an eerie, earthy folk feel. It sits in the lane of contemporary artists like Bedouine and Jessica Pratt, while also recalling 20th century English folk such as Bridget St. John. By the end, the title phrase settles into something close to a mantra.

Lightman said the song was inspired by Eve Babitz, describing a journalist facing the writer decades into her reclusive period after an accident left her disfigured. “She yearns to be remembered the way she was in her writing – sensual and carefree,” Lightman said. “To live in the rose, immortal, blossoming inside a body of work. There is a lot to be said about an Artists’ myth when in reality, the human experience is much messier, undignified – not to mention the cruelty pelted onto beautiful women as they age. Instead I went down a theological rabbit hole with the rose. I thought about Dante’s Paradise and all those feminine saints stashed in the petals, like an exquisitely scented sexy hotel. ‘Let Eve live here’ I thought.”

Lightman is best known for work with her twin sister Romy in Tasseomancy and Lightman & Lightman. This new record marks her first solo release.

Tracklist

01 “The Way I Saw You”
02 “The Prize”
03 “Day of the Just Cause”
04 “Girl Bitten By A Lizard”
05 “Etty”
06 “Give It All Up”
07 “Rose is In Greece”
08 “Soon Came The Evening”

The Way I Saw You is out 6/26 via Night Bloom Records. Pre-order it here.