Massachusetts-based folk singer-songwriter Dan Pallotta is following up his recent single releases with a new piece that ventures into the shadow land of common and existential fears that often form the background soundtrack of our daily existence.

“Voice in My Head”was inspired by the desire to transcend that ghost that whispers catastrophic warnings to us on a loop. It’s an eerie but melodic folk tune led by acoustic guitar, gently descending dobro and distant lap steel guitar, deepening the space of the record — a metaphor for the caverns in which that inner voice resides.

Pallotta explains that he wrote the song out of a “desire to shine light on the dark voices that often haunt our daily existence, to bring them out of the shadows.” Co-produced with Ross Peterson, Pallotta made critical production choices to simplify the arrangement to heighten the sense of isolation each of us feels when that voice is stalking us.

The vocal is very in-your-face in order to convert the suffering of the narrator and the immediacy of the pain. The slide instruments were an obvious choice for the haunting, distant, mood they evoke. We eliminated percussion until the end. The voice doesn’t dance. – Dan Pallotta