Videos by American Songwriter
Alison Krauss & Union Station released Paper Airplane in 2011, bringing an end to a seven-year break from the recording studio. On an album dominated by top-tier collaborators like Richard Thompson and Jackson Browne, though, it was an unknown song called “Lie Awake” — a minor-key folk ballad co-written by Nashville newcomer Angel Snow and Alison’s brother, Viktor — that truly stood out.
Snow wrote other songs with Viktor Krauss, too, two of which made their way onto the deluxe version of Paper Airplane. A handful of others may wind up on Snow’s third album, due out later this year. For now, she’s focusing on her own version of “Lie Awake,” a version that replaces the ethereality of the Krauss cover with something earthy and brooding.
Released this week, the song’s music video finds Snow tossing and turning in bed. All she wants is a little sleep — a break from the waking world, where her relationship to an anonymous lover is slowly crumbling — but she winds up wandering the foggy streets instead, trading shut-eye for aimlessness. Back in bed, her estranged lover sleeps soundly, either unaware or untroubled with the growing distance between them.
