Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

The Lone Bellow brings honest, soulful music to Bluebird

Worries of a sophomore album slump were hard to avoid for the Lone Bellow.

The Brooklyn-based indie folk trio’s self-titled debut album, which was released in 2013, reached number 64 on the “Billboard 200” album chart.

The three released their second effort, titled “Then Came the Morning,” in 2015.

The Lone Bellow will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Bluebird.

“You always hear about that sophomore album thing, and there was definitely a time when we caught ourselves really worrying about it,” lead singer Zach Williams said.

When the band was on tour in Ireland, he said the members stopped themselves and shrugged off their stress.

They decided to just have fun with the music while they can, Williams said.

He said the new album came with some new sounds.

However, the tracks are just as honest as ever, 
he said.

“The heart of the writing was from the same place, but, just like sonically, we were able to go down some rabbit holes that we didn’t really have the margin to go down the first time,” he said.

According to the Lone Bellow’s website, their music combines “folk sincerity, gospel fervor and heavy metal thunder, but the heart of the band is harmony: three voices united in a lone bellow.”

Songwriting duties are often spread among guitarist Brian Elmquist, Williams and mandolin and bass player Kanene Pipkin.

Williams said they value the freedom of the songwriting process.

“I think we try our best to let the songs come from a place of honesty, sometimes processing some heaviness, and sometimes there’s some levity in it that I think we need,” he said.

For Williams, the hardest song to write was “Marietta” because it came from a difficult place, he said.

One of his favorites to sing is “Watch Over Us,” which was written by guitarist Brian Elmquist.

The members of Lone Bellow try to champion each other’s work, Williams said.

“We try to help kind of curate and critique each other’s work, and it becomes our work, and I think that’s one of the beauties of being in a band,” he said.

The Lone Bellow also received the aid of a new producer, Aaron Dessner, who’s a member of the National.

Williams said the trio alternated between Dessner’s basement and Dreamland, a 19th century church-turned-studio near Woodstock, New York, to record the album.

“After being on the road, it was nice to come back to New York, be close to family and work for a few weeks on the record,” he said.

Dreamland has been the setting for a lot of great records over the years, Williams said.

Many popular bands, including Arcade Fire, have recorded at Dreamland in the past.

Williams said the ambience of the old church’s sanctuary played in wonderfully with the Lone Bellow’s three-part vocal 
harmonies.

“I just loved all the sound that resonated from the floors and the ceiling and the wood,” Williams said.

Dessner and the National also included the Lone Bellow in their collaborative Grateful Dead cover album.

The album will be released this year.

Aside from the Lone Bellow and the National, artists like Sharon Van Etten, the War On Drugs, Kurt Vile and others also take part in the album.

“I can’t wait to just own the album,” Williams said. “I think it’s going to rule.”

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe