Los Angeles-based indie folk band Lord Huron has found success over the course of their first two albums, becoming staples in the late-afternoon of music festivals and crafting songs you are likely to hear in public even if you don’t know them by name. But last year, something unexpected happened. Thanks to a sync in the popular teen drama 13 Reasons Why on Netflix, Lord Huron finally had a song that everyone knew. “The Night We Met” was used in a beautiful school dance sequence between the show’s two protagonists, a real “they could fall in love” moment, and the song found a second life at radio because of it.
Now, a year later, Lord Huron has announced their third full-length, Vide Noir, with the knowledge that the band is now bigger than ever. And, with our first taste of new music, they seem determined not to squelch the opportunity. Making their major label debut with Republic, the group has offered a pair of new tracks, “Ancient Names (Part 1)” and, you guessed it, “Ancient Names (Part 2).” The tracks are robust and muscular, hitting on the tunefulness and warm melodies that fans of the band would expect, but sounding more ready than ever for the big stages that they will be playing.
Songwriter Ben Schneider spoke in a statement about the album’s inspiration:
My nighttime drives ranged all over the city—across the twinkling grid of the valley, into the creeping shadows of the foothills, through downtown’s neon canyons and way out to the darksome ocean. I started imagining Vide Noir as an epic odyssey through the city, across dimensions, and out into the cosmos. A journey along the spectrum of human experience. A search for meaning amidst the cold indifference of The Universe.
Vide Noir will be released on April 20th. Give “Ancient Names (Part 1)” a listen above, and “Ancient Names (Part 2)” a listen below.
