[rating=5.00]
The Lone Bellow’s sophomore effort Then Came the Morning is a mixed product. The album strikes out as a synthesis of various traditional styles, but filtered through a modern lens. The result is an ambitious series of songs that maintains a consistent style alchemizing all of these ideas but often underwhelms in their execution.
Early on in the album the band lays out the pace of Then Came the Morning in rather plain terms; in fact, it is on the first & title track, within moments that the album’s blueprints are laid bare. The gospel-inflected vocals, layered against bombastic organ, come across strong but heavy handed. There is a curious effect that begins here and develops over the course of the record: on an album where gospel influences are so evident, the layered chorus is often removed from the forefront of the sound. The result is eerie, a sort of distance from the listener which sounds almost forced, or ham-fisted.
Once the “big sound” of the leadoff track passes, the album gives way to more traditional bare-bones folk with pronounced pedal steel, acoustic guitars and two- and three-part harmonies. Including its title track, the album spends a large portion of its time in 3/4 rhythm, often doing a lilting country waltz. However, there are times, as on “Heaven Don’t Call Me Home” where the rhythm section shakes loose and the band flexes a more rockabilly style.
Even on the anthems that appear early in the album, the band delivers their songs in a sharper-edged folk style such as with the snare-driven snappiness of “Take My Love.” Indeed, even on these songs the lyrics are introspective and somber. Although the melody is pleasant and airy, the content is often pessimistic (“I hope you come back to me,” the singer croons on “I Let You Go”). The listener is more than halfway through the album before the introduction of a rock ‘n roll sound, hinted at in the slap-back bluesy waltz of “Diners.”
In total, Then Came the Morning is an album whose song cycle maintains a level of quiet throughout, to the point where the lows become mundane and the listener becomes accustomed to the general melancholy of the album. The rave-ups cook however, and the different elements of pedal steel, electric guitar and harmonies snake together (“If You Don’t Love Me”). Unfortunately, too often one element emerges to dominate the others, and the result is a song cycle which does not stray often enough from a predictable and at times underwhelming formula.
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