First Listen: Love Is The Law
Love Spells Steps Into His Own on Debut Album ‘LOVE IS THE LAW’ with long-awaited debut blends dream pop, New Wave and indie rock into one of the year’s most immersive alternative releases.
Love Spells has spent the past year quietly becoming one of alternative music’s most compelling emerging voices. Through collaborations with Kevin Abstract and a growing reputation for hazy, emotionally charged songwriting, Sir Taegen Harris has built anticipation without relying on the traditional pop playbook. Now, with the release of LOVE IS THE LAW, he delivers a debut that feels fully realized from its opening moments.
Across twelve tracks, Harris expands on the dream-pop foundation that first attracted listeners, drawing equally from lush ’70s production, New Wave textures and indie rock melancholy. Rather than chasing nostalgia, the album uses those influences to create an atmosphere that feels intimate and cinematic, balancing shimmering guitars, layered synths and understated vocal performances.
The record also reflects Harris’ own unconventional path. After experiencing homelessness as a teenager, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue music before eventually connecting with Kevin Abstract during sessions surrounding Blush. Those collaborations helped introduce Love Spells to a broader audience while reinforcing the confidence heard throughout LOVE IS THE LAW. Instead of sounding like an artist searching for an identity, Harris presents one that already feels remarkably defined.
Released alongside the album is the video for “Don’t Touch,” directed by choreographer Shay Latukolan, whose previous work with Jungle, Rosalía and Childish Gambino has helped establish movement as a central part of the project’s visual language. Like the music itself, the video leans into mood over spectacle, reinforcing the emotional restraint that runs throughout the record.
While comparisons to dream-pop contemporaries are inevitable, LOVE IS THE LAW ultimately succeeds because it resists settling into any single lane. The album moves comfortably between shimmering indie rock, atmospheric pop and soulful introspection, creating a cohesive listening experience rather than a collection of disconnected singles.
As Love Spells heads out on an international tour that includes festival appearances and a Toronto stop at Longboat Hall this September, LOVE IS THE LAW feels less like the arrival of a promising newcomer than the first chapter from an artist who already understands exactly the world he wants to create.
Love is the Law is available now via RCA Records.
