The Lone Bellow
may have been formed in New York City, but a listen to their first two albums, 2013's
and 2015's
Then Came the Morning
, made it abundantly clear the three members of the group originally came from the Deep South. Their sound was an emphatic but unforced breed of Americana that was a good match for the passionate, often personal stories of lives in the balance that informed their lyrics. After moving to Nashville, the roots rock side of their personality lost some ground to a more explicitly country approach on 2017's
Dave Cobb
-produced
Walk Into a Storm
, but 2020's
Half Moon Light
finds them heading off into new territory. There's just enough twang audible on
to mark this as Americana, but the dominant sound hovers somewhere between indie rock and adult alternative, a smart mix of acoustic and electric instruments that gives keyboards a larger role than before and sounds cool and refined, even as
Zach Williams
' lead vocals hold on to their gentle drawl and emotional heft. While
Williams
and his bandmates -- multi-instrumentalist
Kanene Donehey Pipkin
and guitarist
Brian Elmquist
-- don't sound so different themselves, their surroundings do, and this appears to be an effort to move out of the roots music underground into more eclectic territory.
Aaron Dessner
of
the National
produced
(he was also at the controls for
), and he's expertly constructed the cleaner surfaces and more expansive tone of this LP; he knows how to pump up the drama of tunes like "Friends," "Just Enough to Get By," and "I Can Feel You Dancing." This album is a bold step into fresh creative ground for
the Lone Bellow
. ~ Mark Deming