Road trip ready: Lord Huron’s “Strange Trails” album review
I first heard Lord Huron on my Songza app last summer. Their song, “Time to Run,” drew me in as I yearned to hit the road and explore the country I call home. While the song didn’t inspire me enough to become an obsessed fan, my eyes did light up when I saw their name on the Sloss Music and Arts Festival line-up.
This year, in April, the Los Angeles band produced a new album: “Strange Trails” — a reflective look at living life to the fullest in a fictitious apocalyptic setting.
Ben Schneider, the main writer and founding member of Lord Huron, weaves riffs of love, loss and searching for hope on the open road throughout the 14 folksy tracks on “Strange Trails”.
“If you’re leaving, I want to know why?” Schneider repeats on the opening track, “Love Like Ghosts,” a pressing line in the today’s media obsession with “Ghosting” — when a lover vanishes without a word, leaving behind confusion and heartbreak.
Schneider’s character forgives his lost love, however, and in the next track, “Until the Night Turns” the tempo picks up, and foot stomping begins. This song is made for bumping up the volume while rolling down the windows. The chorus’s upbeat repeating line, “Going till the night turns into the day,” will turn your summer get-together into an indie music video.
After the dance-able “Night Turns,” the pace slows as the album’s tracks describe the fictitious narrator’s travels on “strange trails,” and the band turns introspective — perfect for staring out the passenger window on a road trip through the desert (or any extended drive on I-65).
Through the travels, the album investigates chasing after love and avoiding death. The narrator’s mood reaches a high on “Fool for Love” — my favorite track on the album and a must for anyone’s “good mood” Spotify playlist.
Bottom line: “Strange Trails” is a must for hopeless romantic wanderers. Its mood changes from somber to energetic at the skip of a track. This is a great album, and more importantly it’s carefully crafted to tell a story, something very few albums do well today.
Best social songs: “Until the Night Turns” and “Fool for Love”
Best loner songs: “Dead Man’s Hand” and “ Meet me in the Woods”
