ghost on the shore lord huron guitar guitar

Lord Huron ushered the crowd into their romanticized journey like the Pied Piper, alluring us with anthems of adventure and the unknown. At the second chorus, however, Schneider’s invitation left nothing to choice as the band’s quiet strumming exploded into an urgent wave that opened the floors of the 9:30 Club and swallowed its contents whole. The audience bopped along responsively in the first-moments-of-a-show-and-I-hope-my-friend-was-right-about-this-band sort of way without quite committing to the proposed adventure. extended an invitation to the crowd on the first chorus: “To the ends of the Earth would you follow me? There’s a world that was meant for our eyes to see.” Like their 2012 LP Lonesome Dreams, the band opened quietly with “Ends of the Earth,” singer/founding journeyman Ben Schneider issuing a thesis statement of an opening line: “Oh there’s a river that winds on forever/I’m gonna see where it leads.” The band’s delicate harmonies and casual strumming matched their suited appearance, well-assembled and endearingly folksy, but the sentiment was still a bit hollow when Schneider and co. Thursday night found one 9:30-sized nook of DC transformed into folk band Lord Huron’s fantastical world of escapism, an Oregon Trail of a musical experience where the destination is the journey itself, but with much lower chance of death from dysentery. ■Standout banter: 'I knew I liked Milwaukee.' - Schneider, taking the stage for the encore.Words: Courtney Pitman // Photos: Abbas Sabur The expected twenty-something hipsters were there, but there were also a couple of kids (actual kids, not college kids), people in their 60s and 70s, and all ages in between. ■This may have been the most diverse range of ages I've seen at a 'buzz band' show. But the Minneapolis band's warped country sound - woozy guitar dripping in psychedelia, Pelant's high-octave croon - was as bright as day. Singer John Pelant did offer up some night moves of sorts, tiptoeing across the stage from time to time, like a teenager sneaking back into his house after curfew. Opener Night Moves is not to be mistaken for Night Beds, which was originally supposed to open for Lord Huron Wednesday night before dropping out of the tour.

And in that very brief moment, Lord Huron transformed from the cleansing rain into roaring thunder. And for the show's finale, 'The Stranger,' Barry let himself go, with harder drumming and a flurry of cymbal crashes. The band also loosened up for its elongated live rendition of signature song 'Time to Run,' with distorted vocal wails, xylophone twinkles and expansive guitar. Mark Barry's drumsticks snapped against the rim, sounding like tap shoes shuffling across a wooden floor, on 'We Went Wild.' Within a few minutes, 'Wild' was swaying with Caribbean pop rhythms, a pinch reminiscent of Peter Gabriel, and an exasperated, twitchy Schneider had lost his hat. The band's precious approach bloomed nicely on 'Earth,' the effect lingering into 'The Man Who Lives Forever.' But the third song in the set, 'I Will Be Back One Day,' sounded like more of the same, and more déjà vu moments followed over the 73-minute run-time.įortunately, there were some brief changes of weather. But Lord Huron is no less cinematic it just attains its widescreen sweep in less conventional ways, like the distant hum of Schneider's harmonica on 'The Ghost on the Shore.'īut even a lovely rain, after a while, becomes a drip. The song, like many found on the Los Angeles-based band's 2012 full-length debut 'Lonesome Dreams,' is prettier, dreamier, than other star folk acts - Mumford & Sons, the Lumineers - whose music is similarly reminiscent of a romantic, long-ago era. Initially joined by the slightly Spanish strumming of acoustic guitar, 'Earth' live evoked images of an expansive, unspoiled Western frontier under a night sky, and that was before the giddyup of heroic electric guitar and adventure-seeking drums. The first drops metaphorically fell for 'Ends of the Earth,' with the harmonic yodeling of frontman Ben Schneider with guitarists and backing vocalists Tom Renaud and Karl Kerfoot.

The effect was a fitting metaphor - not so much because Lord Huron is like a storm, although a brewing buzz did prompt a venue change from Turner Hall Ballroom to the larger Pabst (which neared capacity).īut the band, live and on record, is similar to a cleansing rain. The recorded sound of a thunderstorm rumbling in the darkness of the Pabst Theater Wednesday preceded the arrival of Lord Huron's debut Milwaukee performance.

Ghost on the shore lord huron guitar guitar