Cameron Stenger Threads Beauty Through “Tattered Cloth” on Upcoming Album "Lighter"

With his latest single “Tattered Cloth,” North Carolina-based songwriter Cameron Stenger delivers a stirring meditation on healing, memory, and the slow, imperfect act of rebuilding. It’s the second single from his forthcoming album Lighter (out August 29, 2025), and it may be one of his most affecting releases to date.

Opening with insistent piano chords and earthy fingerpicked guitar, “Tattered Cloth” immediately establishes a mood of quiet urgency. There’s a sense of motion in the music, of moving forward even when the path is unclear. Stenger’s voice, warm and unguarded, carries the ache of someone searching for solid ground after upheaval. “I’m losing my way / I’ve got no compass,” he sings, not as a complaint but as a confession. There’s vulnerability here, but also resilience.

Produced alongside Jeff Crawford (Mandolin Orange, The Dead Tongues), the track walks a delicate line between lo-fi intimacy and cinematic sweep. It recalls the emotional density of Elliott Smith’s XO and the understated elegance of Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born. But Stenger’s songwriting voice is fully his own—patient, thoughtful, and unafraid to dwell in complexity.

Lyrically, “Tattered Cloth” is a portrait of transition. The refrain, “We’re weaving threads of our new life through tattered cloth, captures the fragility of starting over, especially in the aftermath of personal rupture. There's no easy redemption here, no forced optimism. Instead, Stenger gives us something rarer: the sound of someone making peace with the mess, honoring what’s been torn while still daring to stitch something new.

If Lingering, the album’s first single, hinted at Lighter’s emotional depth, “Tattered Cloth” confirms it. This is songwriting that doesn’t flinch, both musically and lyrically grounded in emotional truth. With this release, Cameron Stenger cements himself as a powerful new voice in indie-folk—one capable of turning raw honesty into quiet transcendence.

“Tattered Cloth” is out now. Cameron Stenger’s album Lighter arrives August 29, 2025.
More info: cameronstenger.com
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