When speaking of the songs on their fifth full-length studio album Love Songs For Losers lead vocalist Zach Williams of The Lone Bellow says: “The songs are looking at bad relationships and wonderful relationships and all the in-between, sometimes with a good deal of levity. It’s us just trying to encapsulate the whole gamut of experiences that we all go through as human beings.”
That they succeed in doing that so brilliantly on this record is a testament to their talent and my belief that they – Williams and bandmates Brian Elmquist and Kanene Donehy Pipkin – are arguably the most talented trio working in Americana music today. Their superlative songwriting, instrumentation and vocal skills are on full display with these 11 songs much like they have been on their other four previous studio efforts,
Co-produced by guitarist Elmquist and Jacob Sooter with vocal production by the multi-instrumentalist Pipkin, Love Songs For Losers finds the band expanding their sound in a way that should please their old fans while attracting new ones. While their folk, blues, country, and bluegrass roots can still be heard, the influence of 1950s soul ballads is prominent as well.
The result is nothing short of dazzling as the three bandmates along with longtime bassist Jason Pipkin and drummer Julian Dorio, create an album that magically sounds like something Buddy Holly and the Crickets would create if they could somehow be fantastically transported to the 21st century. The songs, subject matter, sensibilities, and sensitivities of the lyrics are that good.
True to Williams’ statement, love and relationships are looked at from various and diverse angles on the record. Here are songs about unabashed affection for your partner and the awkward ways we sometimes express it, about the excruciating and lingering pain of lost love, about having compassion for friends as they suffer through the effects of love gone wrong, about celebrating the unique love that families can deliver to each other, and about the eternal and seemingly endless quest for love that we all experience.
Highlights include “ Cost Of Living” (with Pipkin on lead vocal delivering one of the best vocal performances anywhere this year), “Dreaming”(with Elmquist on the lead vocal), “ Unicorn,” “Move,” “Homesick,” and “Wherever Your Heart Is”( with Williams on lead vocals).
At this stage in their career and with their collective talents artistically meshing and merging so well together, it is impossible to predict the ways this exceptional band will add to their greatness, only that they most assuredly will with future releases.
Love Songs For Losers by The Lone Bellow is now available on the band’s website.
Enjoy our previous coverage here: REVIEW: The Lone Bellow’s “Half Moon Light” Is A Testament To Their Ever Growing Greatness And Storytelling Ability