How many good albums can a group make? What happens when a group has a debut album, or in the case of Lord Huron a debut and sophomore record, that are so good and they have to follow it up? Can the next record ever be as good as that debut or again in the case of Lord Huron that debut and that follow up? It is a difficult question to answer and sometimes it is unfair to the band. Look at the case of Big Country. The Crossing, their debut, is as good a record that has ever been released. Whether it is 1983 when it debuted and I first saw "In a Big Country" and "Fields of Fire" on that new thing called MTV, or in 2018 while listening on Spotify, that record sounds amazing. So amazing that as good as "Steeltown" the follow up was, The Crossing is so good, in a way it doomed them in states. Steeltown is a great record, unfortunately it is a great record following an amazing record and in 1984, I just didn't give it a chance. It was not until 2017 that I realized how good that record is and how unfortunate that I and many other fans of the Crossing did not do that record justice. Another example of a debut just too good to follow up in my opinion is the Head and the Heart. Their debut, the self titled record, is amazing, again a record that you can listen to beginning to end over and over again. The two follow up have been good. They are good records, but they pale when compared to the debut. "Let's Be Still" is a very good record, but had no chance of living up to the debut. What sets apart say a group like The Who is that over the course of 50 years they have produced so many good records and songs. Groups like The Who, the Stones, and only a few others have produced multiple multiple great records, to be honest most groups will only make no more than 3 great records. So, in anticipation for the release of Vide Noir and giving it those first listens, I wondered after "Lonesome Dreams" and "Strange Trails" could they make a great third record.
Also, in 2018 it is difficult to review an entire record. So many younger music fans, do not listen to a whole record. They know songs. They may download some songs from a record. Those songs may be great, but is the whole record great? Many music fans, especially younger fans, don't need the whole record to be great, they need a couple of songs to stream or download. For example, I love the Lumineers. The two Lumineers concerts I saw, were two of the best concerts I have ever seen. Their debut record, is an amazing record that I have listened beginning to end countless times. However, I do not like the Cleopatra record, the follow up. What? How can I not like Cleopatra? There are 5 amazing songs on that record: Sleep on the Floor, Ophelia, Cleopatra, Angela, and In the Light...5 amazing songs. However, the record has 11 songs. I really do not like the other 6. In terms of streaming, yeah awesome 5 songs...actually amazing 5 songs, but I can't play that entire record. I do not like that record as a whole. I am old fashioned. I still think in terms of an entire record. I still review records as a whole. Another group I can point to is the Avett Brothers, an amazing band, amazing to see live, and they always have some amazing tracks on their records, but their last three records I have not enjoyed as a whole. Do they have some great songs, yes 3-4 per record, but what about the other tracks? Perhaps it is not fair, but keep that in mind as I review Vide Noir. That is what makes Lord Huron so much fun to listen to and review. All three records are concept records. All the songs are connected. You really do need to listen to the entire record to appreciate each individual track. When Ancient Names 1 and 2 were released, I was not crazy about the songs, but I knew and was correct that I could not judge those songs because I did not know where they fit into the theme of this record and how they play into the concept of the record. Once I was able to hear the entire record and know some of the background of the record, I really love those songs.
Big Country, one of my favorite bands, in my opinion has put out three great records: The Crossing, Steeltown, and the underappreciated Buffalo Skinners. Del Amitri, perhaps the band most personal to me and the band that defines so much of who I am, in the end put out three great records: Waking House, Change Everything, and Twisted, their other records were good, very good, but not in the league of those three. Mumford and Sons put out two records that probably twenty years from now I will still listen to beginning to end. But what about that third record? Wilder Mind by Mumford and Sons is a good gateway to the Lord Huron Vide Noir record. The first two Mumford and Sons records were banjo Americana alt-folk masterpieces. Those first two records were so much about that electric banjo sound, but Wilder Minds was a departure. It was a different sound. It was a sound that was not what the fans were used to nor what drove them to listen and love to Mumford and Sons. They went from accordions and banjos to a more rock sound. In reality they had to do it. As a band, they could not make the same banjo record every couple of years, but how do you make a record with a sound different than the sound your fans fell in love with. Lord Huron on record three has a similar challenge. Lonesome Dreams is alt-folk and Strange Trails is also alt-folk with some rockabilly, but Vide Noir is different. It was clear from Ancient Names 1 and 2, this record was not going to be Lonesome Dreams or Strange Trails. So how do you make a record that has a different sound than the sound your fans love? Lonesome Dreams and Strange Trails are two of my favorite records of all time, so how does the very different sounding Vide Noir compare? Mumford and Sons Wilder Minds is a terrific record with some of my favorite Mumford and Sons songs, but I will never love or listen to that record the way and the amount I listen to Babel and Sigh No More. Will Vide Noir be the same? The answer is NO. Spoiler Alert: I love Vide Noir.
When Mumford and Sons released the first track from Wilder Minds called "Believe," I and many other fans hated it. It originally sounded like Mumford and Sons was trying to sound like Cold Play. Today, that song is one of my favorite songs by Mumford and Sons, but upon its original release I hated it. Why did I and so many hate it? It was too radical a departure from the electric banjo and foot stomping songs that made me fall in love with Mumford and Sons. It was 180 degrees from what we were used to and it really did take some time to get into that track. With that in mind, "Lost in Time and Space" was the perfect song to open this record with.
"Lost in Time and Space" opens with those small sounds that permeated the Lonesome Dream record. One of the things I so love about that record are those small sounds that are on some many of those songs, and "Lost in Time and Space" opens like that. But then it turn rock a billy like Strange Trails, but as the track continues it becomes more psychedelic signaling the change in Lord Huron's sound and letting the listener know this record is going to be different. I love how they did that with this track, this transition, paying homage to the past two records but setting you the listener up for the change. I loved this track so much, that the first day I had the record, I had a hard time getting past this track, I love it so much. The song also introduces a phrase you will here on several tracks on this record "Lost in time and space"
Speaking of records, let me pause here. I no longer have anything that really plays CDs anymore. None of my computers have CD Rom, my cars do not play CDs, so how was I going to listen to this album. Well the old fashion way, I bought it on LP. Yeah, it streams on Amazon and Spotify, but the best way to listen to this great album in on vinyl. Get the LP!
In the late summer I saw Lord Huron for the 3rd time. It was at the Van Buren in downtown Phoenix. They played a number of new songs from this record. However, they did not really say much to the crowd about these songs. No titles, no discussion of their meanings, they just played several songs that were obviously new. In this day of multi-media and social media, I know very little about Lord Huron. There is a mystery to this group and their music. Lonesome Dreams are songs based on fake books by a fake author out of Tucson. Strange Trails I think is supposed to be about characters in a movie that was never written or made. Vide Noir, well I am not too sure and like all their other music it is unclear and the band does not help. Two things I have been able to find about the meaning of this record is 1) it is based on the city of LA and Ben Schneider's travels across LA at night and 2) it is about a girl high on Vide Noir and a man who loves her who travels across time and space to bring her back only to be rejected in favor of the drug in the end. Who knows for sure? I saw Lord Huron for a 4th time this March and they again played many of these new songs and again not much context. That 4th show really showed the transition. They played very few songs from Lonesome Dreams and only the fast songs from Strange Trails. This 4th show was way more reflective of the new sound of Lord Huron. More Ancient Names than Ghost on the Shore.
Let me also say this about the record and Lord Huron's music. Lonesome Dreams is a record for traveling in wide open spaces. Lonesome Dreams is about going to the "ends of the earth." It is the perfect soundtrack when on a plane or in a car driving through the California desert between Blythe and LA. Strange Trails to me is about the Southwest. I will always associate my first listen to Strange Trails and the drive between Phoenix and Sedona. Strange Trails is a much smaller world, maybe even one world from one track in Lonesome Dreams. Lonesome Dreams is the macro and Strange Trails in the micro. However, both have a distinct mountains and desert feel. To me, both are about long daytime drives. Vide Noir to me is more urban and more night. Lonesome Dreams and Strange Trails are records I play in the morning as I drive to work in the shadow of the White Tank and Estrella Mountains. Vide Noir is about driving through downtown Phoenix at night. Vide Noir might be based on LA, but to me it could be Phoenix at night just as well.
There is another thing about where I play this record that is different. When I am at the gym, my playlists or my distance running playlists may have "Time to Run" or "She Lit a Fire" or "Hurricane" on them. However, I would never play Lonesome Dreams or Strange Trails as a whole at the gym. Vide Noir absolutely works on the gym, and especially on the most boring place in the gym on the treadmill. Vide Noir is a great record for that 35 minute run on the treadmill, something I would never thought I would say about a Lord Huron Record.
As "Lost in Time And Space" ends there are some ending vocals that sound right out of Lonesome Dream, it is a last call of sorts to the sound and vibe of that amazing record. Because after an extremely short transition and fade comes and heavily baseline and the new sound of Vide Noir and Lord Huron 2018.
The second track on the record "Never Ever" sets the stage and makes it clear that this record is different. "Lost in Time and Space" has elements of the past records, "Never Ever" let's you know this record is not "Lonesome Dreams." The same can be said about "Ancient Names 1 and 2." Also, by themselves, out of context of the album, I was not thrilled when "Ancient Names 1 and 2" were streamed a few weeks before the record was released. But I knew, and I was correct, in the context of the record and in the context of the first two tracks and the songs that follow, these songs take new meaning. I love the songs and the transition between them quite a bit, now that I know where they fit in the bigger picture of the record.
I don't know if my review of this record would be the same from the point of view of a newer music listener who knows individual downloads or streams vs. listening to a band or a whole record. I can tell you as someone who is listening to this record as a whole, who listens from first song to last, this is a great Lord Huron record. I can't compare it to Lonesome Dreams or Strange Trails because they are not similar records to compare, just as I can't compare Neil Diamond to the Who, I love both, but they are not the same.
Hands down, my favorite track on the record in "Moonbeam." Like "Lost in time and space" I can listen to this track over and over. This is my favorite song on the album both lyrically and in sound. There is just something about the line "I could use a few laughs and a couple of songs." I love it.
This is a great record, but I have one criticism of it. Strange Trails and Lonesome Dreams end with two stunning songs. "In the Wind" and "The Night We Met" are such emotional songs. They are perhaps, the two best album ending songs I have ever heard. You leave both of those records with a "wow" moment. The power and emotion of those two songs is incredible. I didn't think you could end a record with a more emotional song than "In the Wind" until I heard "The Night We Met." Lyrically, "Emerald Star" has that emotional impact. We our main character realizes the girl he traveled through time and space for would rather stay on vide noir than return with him is quite powerful. However, the sound of this song, lacks the emotional impact of "In the Wind" and "Night We Met." I would have liked this record to have ended with a stunning song like the first two records. Lyrics wise, yes it is stunning, but in terms of the vocals and sound, in my opinion it is one of the weaker tracks on an otherwise fantastic record.
If you are a fan from Lonesome Dreams or even more recently from Strange Trails this is a record that is very different. It might not be the Lord Huron you are used to. This is the paradox about fans and good bands. There is a sound that you like, that sound is why you love this band. This band puts out a record or two records with a sound you love. On one hand you want a new record to remind you or to sound like that record from 5, 10, or even 30 years ago. Del Amitri is my favorite band. Justin Currie puts out new and interesting music, but I still long from 1989 and Waking Hours, part of me wants a 2017 Justin Currie record to sound like 1992's Change Everything. However, great bands evolve. For great bands to stay great, they have to reinvent themselves and put out something that is fresh. The Beatles at some point had to put out Sgt. Pepper, the Stones at some point put out the brilliantly different Exile on Main Street. Mumford and Sons had to put out a record that was not the alt-folk Americana of Sigh No More or Babel. Mumford and Sons would have broken up had they not evolved their sound. I love the Bodeans, they put out some great records in the late 80s and early 90s, but there was a point where every record sounded the same. I will never fully appreciate Wilder Minds, despite some amazing tracks on that record, but I fully appreciate that Mumford and Sons could not keep putting out electric banjo records. Vide Noir is a different Lord Huron. It is not the Lord Huron that I put on when I am in an airplane and want that dreamy open spaces feel of Lonesome Dreams. However, unlike Wilder Mind which I hardly play and totally do not love like I should, Vide Noir succeeds. There is no hard sell needed, no need to tell why you needed to change the sound. Ben is spending more time in LA, LA has affected what he sees and knows and his music reflects that now, just as the desert Southwest or the Great Lakes may have affected earlier songs.
I am not talking one hit wonders, I am talking that the music industry is littered with bands who put out an amazing first record, but were never able to follow up that artistic or commercial success. Lord Huron followed Lonesome Dreams with the equally strong and amazing Strange Trails. The music industry is also littered with bands who never made it past two good records. Lord Huron is not one of these casualties. Vide Noir makes Lord Huron 3 for 3. This is a terrific record. Now the challenge is how do you follow up 3 amazing records?
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