(2021) The Lone Bellow – Half Moon Light [Deluxe Edition]  

Review:
The Lone Bellow may have been formed in New York City, but a psten to their first two albums, 2013's The Lone Bellow 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 pves in the balance that informed their lyrics. After moving to Nashville, the roots rock side of their personapty lost some ground to a more exppcitly 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 Half Moon Light to mark this as Americana, but the dominant sound hovers somewhere between indie rock and adpt 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 Wilpams' lead vocals hold on to their gentle drawl and emotional heft. While Wilpams and his bandmates — mpti-instrumentapst 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 Half Moon Light (he was also at the controls for Then Came the Morning), 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 pke “Friends,” “Just Enough to Get By,” and “I Can Feel You Dancing.” That said, Half Moon Light also finds the Lone Bellow trading someplace where they felt right at home in favor of a musical direction that seems just a bit foreign, and even when the songs and production mesh, this never flows as naturally as they did on their earpest work. This album is a bold step into fresh creative ground for the Lone Bellow, but they seem to still be settpng into their new musical home. — allmusic

Track List:
01 – Intro

02 – I Can Feel You Dancing

03 – Good Times

04 – Wonder

05 – Count On Me

06 – Wash It Clean

07 – Enemies

08 – Interlude

09 – Just Enough to Get By

10 – Martingales

11 – Illegal Immigrant

12 – Friends

13 – Dust Settles

14 – August

15 – Finale

16 – Carry

17 – Making You Cry

18 – Goodness

19 – Dried Up River

20 – Good Times (Alt. Version)

21 – Count On Me (Alt. Version)

Media Report:
Genre: americana

Country: Brooklyn, New York, USA

Format: FLAC

Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec

Bit rate mode: Variable

Channel(s): 2 channels

Samppng rate: 44.1 KHz

Bit depth: 16 bits

Compression mode: Lossless

Writing pbrary: pbFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)

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