LORD HURON - Lonesome Dreams +mp3

Ben Schneider's a man out of time, all rust-colored and sepia-toned, prone to dressing like an extra from Cold Mountain. The Lord Huron frontman sings of river crossings, trudging through forests, shouting out his love from the mountaintops, all these big, romantic, pre-cell-phone notion of fidelity, honor, the lay of the land. After a couple of well-received EPs-- including 2010's fine Mighty-- the Michigan-to-L.A. transplant's debut LP, Lonesome Dreams, finds Schneider digging his mud-caked heels into his music's more rustic side, shedding much of the electronic flourishes and international flavors of his early EPs and going to town on harmony-rich folk-rock. But by throwing the focus onto the latter half of his Urban Cowboy routine, Schneider's vision has narrowed, his once-vibrant, open-armed Americana now overcautious, content to shoot squarely for the middle. Record Label: Play It Again Sam Style: Independent