{"id":4017,"date":"2015-04-17T20:26:44","date_gmt":"2015-04-18T00:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=4017"},"modified":"2015-04-17T20:26:44","modified_gmt":"2015-04-18T00:26:44","slug":"strange-trails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/17\/strange-trails\/","title":{"rendered":"Strange Trails."},"content":{"rendered":"

Lord Huron’s first full-length album, 2012’s Lonesome Dreams<\/i>, spawned a minor crossover hit in the single \u201cTime to Run,\u201d a folk\/alt-country song that I put at #35 on my list of my top 100 songs of 2013<\/a>. That song stood out on the album for its upbeat tempo and shuffling guitar pattern that is in itself a foundational element of the group’s second album, Strange Trails<\/a>\"\"<\/i>, which came out on April 7th. <\/p>\n

<\/a>The album begins in more subdued fashion, almost like (dare I say it) a Mumford and Sons \u201clet’s have a slow bit, then a faster bit, then a slow bit again\u201d track, \u201cLove Like Ghosts,\u201d a song with big sounds that seem designed to fill an arena without surrendering that syncopation that is such an essential part of the group’s sound. The same rhythm works more effectively when the pace picks up on \u201cUntil the Night Turns,\u201d the swirling \u201cHurricane,\u201d and \u201cMeet Me in the Woods,\u201d with a melody very reminiscent of that of the War on Drugs’ \u201cRed Eyes.\u201d <\/p>\n

I frequently see Lord Huron pegged as indie-folk or folk-rock or just alternative, but this album is much more country than any of those labels would lead you to believe, although on some level it’s all just marketing copy. It’s guitar-driven, shuffling, yearning music that probably draws as much from rockabilly and the Bakersfield sound as it does from any folk or indie-rock tradition. It isn’t as sentimental as its musical progenitors, which were more products of their time in lyrical tone and in a production style that forced the twang of the guitars to the forefront, yet maintains a strong connection to its roots through shared rhythms and motifs. That makes Strainge Trails<\/i>‘ strength also its main drawback: there’s little variation from the group’s fundamental sound, just alterations in pacing. That’s part of why \u201cThe World Ender\u201d stands out to me as the album’s best track: the music is similar to everything else on the record, but the lyrics are darker, so it’s more Johnny Cash than Buck Owens and the Buckaroos.<\/p>\n

That revivalist mantle might fit Lord Huron better, as they seem to revel in long-forgotten sounds that haven’t been popular since the death of the border blasters. The album closes with the mid-tempo \u201cLouisa,\u201d a love song with an arpeggiated rhythm guitar line, and \u201cThe Night We Met,\u201d which recycles the main melodic line from the opening track \u2013 a nod back to a nod back. There’s nothing wrong (in my mind, at least) with a band committing itself to a retro sound, especially when it’s one to which so much of rock, folk, and country owes a debt. I would like to see more experimentation or modern flourishes within that sound, however; it’s an album you’ll like if you liked the first Lord Huron record, but I hope their next album covers new ground.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lord Huron’s first full-length album, 2012’s Lonesome Dreams, spawned a minor crossover hit in the single \u201cTime to Run,\u201d a folk\/alt-country song that I put at #35 on my list of my top 100 songs of 2013. That song stood out on the album for its upbeat tempo and shuffling guitar pattern that is in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[803,405,498,167,852],"class_list":["post-4017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2015-in-music","tag-country-music","tag-folk-music","tag-indie","tag-music","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4022,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017\/revisions\/4022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}