Nostalgic sounds returning with Lord Huron’s Long Lost
By Spencer Yu, Contributor
Since their much-loved debut EP Lonesome Dreams in 2012, the band Lord Huron have made an impressive name for themselves. The indie rock band firmly established themselves as one of the best at making music that invokes nostalgic feelings of old Americana and reintroducing old sounds that were once at the forefront of music. Their latest album, Long Lost, delivers their style in spades and might just be their best work yet.
Described by the band as a “long lost classic from another dimension,” the album is inspired by the past of an America gone by. It presents itself as an old music variety program hosted by the fictional label manager Tubbs Tarbell. The sound of the entire project can be described as almost ancient. It’s eerie to listen to. It feels like an album that has fallen out of time, like something that was meant to have come out in 1960 but came out in 2021.
The small details like the sound effects and mock television interludes further add to the sense of immersion. They have put a lot of thought into the world building of the album, even going so far as to create a fictional trailer titled the “Whispering Pine Collection” and a web series to go along with the album. All of these pieces come together to provide a surreal listening experience.
The length is also bang-on. Clocking in at just under an hour, it is a very compact and content-rich experience. At no point did I feel the album drag too far on or overstay its welcome.
I was impressed by Lord Huron’s ability to blend a variety of sounds together in a way that seems natural and not forced. For example, in the song “Mine Forever,” they take a predominantly old western sound and mix it with a ‘60s beach rock vibe. The sound of the song says Beach Boys but its lyrical content is something that would be written by a heartbroken cowboy. That’s not to say that all of the tracks blend different types of genres together. Tracks such as “Love Me Like You Used To” and “Twenty Long Years” are western songs to the core.
The last track is worth mentioning as its the band’s first attempt at an experimental instrumental track. It’s titled “Times Blur” and it serves as a 14-minute audio representation of the passage of time by replaying the entire album but warped and distorted. It’s very similar to the latter half of The Caretaker’s Everywhere at the End of Time in which there is no real rhythm or instrumentals, it’s just noise representing a concept. What makes it more interesting is that it loops directly back into the first track further emphasizing the theme of time blurring and warping.
In summary, Long Lost is a highly enjoyable look back into music’s past and reintroduction of old concepts in a new and interesting manner. For music fans from an older generation, it will sound very familiar. But for the newer music fan, it provides a look into what has come before. It might even introduce them to a whole back catalogue of content that they might not have been familiar with at all. The quality of the music is top-notch and the extra touches make it that much better.
