Mill Valley, CA native Amelia Einhorn sounds like she’s finally landed where she belongs. Recording as Meels, she leans into a version of herself that feels fully formed on Across the Raccoon Strait – a collection of songs that thread West Coast warmth with mountain top folk and Americana. After years spent in New York, the EP reads like both a creative reset and a quiet return to the landscapes, rhythms, and emotional truths that shaped her from the start.
There’s a natural confidence running through these songs. Nothing reaches for attention, yet Across the Raccoon Strait feels 100% intentional. Meels follows her instincts, letting melodies and stories unfold – grounded in tradition but never stuck there.. like they’ve been waiting just beyond the horizon, ready for the right time to bring them into focus.
“I wrote most of these songs in my New York apartment while attending NYU and itching to get back out west,” Meels says. “When I was making the EP, I was leaning into a more Americana, country sound and needed to define it, and decided ‘critter country’ has a nice ring to it.” That spirit comes through immediately on the opening track – Out West, which introduces her self-described Critter Country: a loose, thoughtful blend of folk, country, and bluegrass that feels worn-in and gently playful, equal parts campfire and open highway.
Across the EP, Meels moves effortlessly between reflection and forward motion, finding beauty in uncertainty and comfort in honesty. Across the Raccoon Strait lives in that in-between space – where memory meets possibility, and where fresh nostalgia can coexist with the fun-filled messiness we call life.
@meanwhile_in_music
