The Daily Spin, June 10
Lord Huron | Strange Trails
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Strange Trails (2015)
Artist: Lord Huron
Link:
This one isn’t entirely fair, because I discovered Lord Huron through this ad and as a lifelong NASCAR fan, tell you what - I cried so hard at this one, man. Dale wasn’t even my guy, but it’s an unbelievably poignant tribute to a man who gave his life to a sport knowing he had impossible shoes to fill. That’s a discussion for another time, though, because I could write an entire post-graduate thesis on Dale Jr. and his role in NASCAR as it developed through the ramifications of the death of his father.
The album that we’re reviewing today, though, is not about that, and as such I won’t make it about that. It’s beautiful folksy-Americana type music, as if it were a single Lumineer or Shakey Graves minus the shakes, the type of music that’s clear and brutal in its longing but also leaving you feeling just the right side of hopeful.
I do wish that there was a little more variety - outside the stunners of the album, it does get a little repetitive, and I can’t necessarily fault them for that but it’s something to note as I think that a great formula is detracted by it being repeated 10 times over. It works, but that’s not an excuse to not deviate from said formula to try new things and get after it, especially when it’s clear that the band has that musical talent to take this a lot further.
Speaking of talent, I’ve got to shoutout whoever arranged and produced this album, because by golly, the way that every note lingers with reverb, yearning in the most brutal and literal sense of that word - whew. I’ve been dealing with my fair share of heartbreak lately, and this album painted such a beautifully harsh picture of what that feels like throughout, illustrating exactly what it feels like to lose love, even moreso what it feels like to live a love still present after the fact.
Rating: 8.8/10
Best Tracks: The Night We Met; Fool for Love
Worst Tracks: Frozen Pines