The Lone Bellow: Then Came the Morning
Tomorrow, the new album from The Lone Bellow, Then Came the Morning, releases. I've been able to stream the album here, and I can't wait until my vinyl copy arrives in the mail this week. The Lone Bellow was my favorite new band of 2013, and now that I've heard their new album, they are in no danger of losing their favored spot in my heart.
The opening and title track launches the album with a gorgeous musical representation of the title as piano, vocals, and lush, vintage-toned strings rise together like a burst of light over the horizon. The rest of the album continues The Lone Bellow's signature style, with energetic 3-part harmonies in a gorgeous americana-blues-folk-gospel fusion through a series of songs that manage to always display equal parts longing and joy. The opening line, "Then came the morning: it was bright like the light that you kept from your smile," is a great example of this careful mixture of joy and pain -- the music and general concept is all sweetness and hope and light, but loss and pain lurk just underneath the surface. The Kanene Pipkin-fronted piece, "Call to War," works in the opposite direction, as the call to war become a call to love, to the day when "love will see the armies fall." The Lone Bellow navigates such murky waters with skill, bringing beauty and love, above all, to the surface.
Then Came the Morning does what a good sophomore album should: it expands on and matures the sound that the band is known for without teetering off into musical directions that might alienate the fans. The production style, including the addition of string orchestrations and bigger guitars as well as a live, echoey tone on the drums and vocals, moves this album from the coffeehouse to the stadium -- but without sacrificing nuance and musicality. On this album, bigger isn't always louder; both the highs and the lows on Then Came the Morning are more dramatic than they were on the band's debut album.
Highlights for me include the rock & roll track "Diners," with a guitar solo that reminds me both of Chuck Berry and Oasis; the high-energy call and response of "Heaven don't call me home" (which brought me right back to their live show, where I first heard the song); and new songs that cast Kanene Pipkin and Brian Elmquist in lead vocals, showing that the strength of the trio's harmony can be traced to each member's equal skill as a solo singer.
If you are new to The Lone Bellow, I suggest listening to everything you can find from them. Start with their self-titled debut, then, by all means, go buy Then Came the Morning. It cuts through the morning winter fog in my brain almost as perfectly as a double cappuccino -- high praise from this coffee addict.
Pre-order Then Came the Morning here.
The opening and title track launches the album with a gorgeous musical representation of the title as piano, vocals, and lush, vintage-toned strings rise together like a burst of light over the horizon. The rest of the album continues The Lone Bellow's signature style, with energetic 3-part harmonies in a gorgeous americana-blues-folk-gospel fusion through a series of songs that manage to always display equal parts longing and joy. The opening line, "Then came the morning: it was bright like the light that you kept from your smile," is a great example of this careful mixture of joy and pain -- the music and general concept is all sweetness and hope and light, but loss and pain lurk just underneath the surface. The Kanene Pipkin-fronted piece, "Call to War," works in the opposite direction, as the call to war become a call to love, to the day when "love will see the armies fall." The Lone Bellow navigates such murky waters with skill, bringing beauty and love, above all, to the surface.
Then Came the Morning does what a good sophomore album should: it expands on and matures the sound that the band is known for without teetering off into musical directions that might alienate the fans. The production style, including the addition of string orchestrations and bigger guitars as well as a live, echoey tone on the drums and vocals, moves this album from the coffeehouse to the stadium -- but without sacrificing nuance and musicality. On this album, bigger isn't always louder; both the highs and the lows on Then Came the Morning are more dramatic than they were on the band's debut album.
Highlights for me include the rock & roll track "Diners," with a guitar solo that reminds me both of Chuck Berry and Oasis; the high-energy call and response of "Heaven don't call me home" (which brought me right back to their live show, where I first heard the song); and new songs that cast Kanene Pipkin and Brian Elmquist in lead vocals, showing that the strength of the trio's harmony can be traced to each member's equal skill as a solo singer.
If you are new to The Lone Bellow, I suggest listening to everything you can find from them. Start with their self-titled debut, then, by all means, go buy Then Came the Morning. It cuts through the morning winter fog in my brain almost as perfectly as a double cappuccino -- high praise from this coffee addict.
Pre-order Then Came the Morning here.
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