Last year we were very honoured to offer an exclusive premier from rising LA pop experimentalists Lord Huron with the track ‘The Stranger’ taken from their EP Time To Run. This month they release their début album ‘Lonesome Dreams‘ which has already been making waves across the music press.
What began life as the solo project of Michigan-born Ben Schneider evolved to full band and live experience. Taking his stage name from Lake Huron the album rejoices in those wide open spaces creating rich soundscapes that conjure wilderness and ghosts of the past.
It would be too easy to compare Lord Huron to the likes of Fleet Foxes which you could be forgiven for on hearing the opening ‘Ends of the Earth‘ with the pastoral chorals that sound out with familiarity. What seperates them is the sense of place they create through their music which is unlike anything before. There is a deep connectivity to the landscape that builds the vulnerability you feel when hearing songs such as ‘The Man Who Lives Forever‘: “I said we’re all gonna die but I’ll never believe it / I love this world and I don’t wanna leave it / Said that death is a deal that you cannot refuse / But I love you girl and I don’t wanna lose you.”
Lonesome Dreams unwinds like a film it will warp time rushing forwards in the innocence of love then halting for ‘moments’ of revelation…a lonesome distorted harmonica on ‘Ghost on the Shore‘ summons such a moment with an overwhelming sense of history: “Under the waves and the earth of an age / Lie a thousand old northerners graves / Deep in the night when the moon’s glowing bright / They come rising up into the night.”
There is a strange joyous feel to this melancholic album, a side of it that is heightened by colourful harmonies blending folk rock and western influences which playout amongst cathedral like harmonics, it will lead you to places you least expect…a wonderful album.
Album Stream
Lonesome Dreams is released via Play It Again Sam (21 Jan 2013)
