With Someone You Can Believe In Arlie challenges the prevailing notion of what indie music should sound like in a landscape shaped by rapid consumption and miniature attention spans. Nathaniel Banks, the mind behind the project, constructs a dense and carefully woven musical storybook that blends narrative interludes, pop craftsmanship, spiritual inquiry, and autobiographical reflection. What emerges is a body of work that feels at once handmade and architecturally ambitious.
The record opens with narrative chapters that function as connective tissue between songs. These interludes mimic the format of old radio dramas. They introduce characters, contextualize emotional tensions, and create an unmistakable sense of journey. For Banks this structure gives voice to questions that routines of daily life often silence. What does it mean to seek meaning in a world full of noise. How can a person trust what they perceive after years of doubt and conflicting pressures. What remains after a loss that reshapes the emotional core.
These questions are not hypothetical for Banks. His history within the major label system left him wrestling with a profound disconnect between his artistic instincts and the industry’s demands. Early success arrived quickly with tracks recorded in his Vanderbilt dorm room. “big fat mouth” and “didya think” became streaming favorites and caught the attention of A&Rs looking for the next collegiate indie breakthrough. Yet according to Banks he found that the system discouraged the very qualities that had sparked his early interest in music. He speaks of an environment where his perception of reality was constantly questioned. By 2019 he had reached a breaking point.
It took years for him to rebuild internal trust and return to the creative process that first felt natural. The turning point arrived after his departure from Atlantic Records during company wide restructuring. Suddenly free of external oversight he stepped back into the independent mindset that had originally defined Arlie. He returned to small spaces and familiar instruments. His writing became more instinctive. He let the songs determine their shape rather than forcing any predetermined trajectory.
The album’s cover art and lyrical content reveal a consistent engagement with Biblical imagery. Rather than making a theological argument Banks uses spiritual language as an emotional grammar. It becomes a way to articulate yearning for understanding and reconciliation with forces that feel larger than human comprehension. This motif recurs throughout the record and deepens the sense of searching embedded in the narrative.
One of the strongest tracks on the album “is it okay if i love you” captures the raw immediacy of working with limited tools and intense emotion. Banks created the song on a newly purchased laptop after spending a year without his main machine. The creative break had pushed him toward guitar, keyboard, and handwritten lyrics. When he finally returned to his recording setup he approached the process with renewed urgency. The song was produced with only the essentials. Its charm comes from that sense of limitation and emotional necessity.
There are moments in the album where humor intersects with despair. A narrative chapter late in the record showcases a child misgendering Arlie in public while repeating a line his father had used. Instead of confronting the moment directly Arlie responds with a gentle musical reprise. The choice becomes a small metaphor for the album’s broader philosophy. The human experience is filled with misunderstanding, frustration, and misguided authority. Yet the most authentic response might simply be to create something meaningful.
Someone You Can Believe In rewards close study. Each listen uncovers layers of harmony, lyrical motifs, and narrative movement. Banks positions the album not as a set of singles but as a unified work that requires and merits attention. It stands as a rare effort in contemporary music. It resists the pressure to be instantly digestible and instead insists on emotional depth, structural risk, and genuine artistic intention.
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