I’ve been anxious to see Lord Huron ever since I saw a clip of their set at CMJ. They sounded like what would happen if Local Natives, Animal Collecive, and Paul Simon got together to write songs over drinks on a tropical island. Each song is a multilayered blend of guitars, summery beats and percussion, and stacked vocals. The lyrics to both EPs Into the Sun and Mighty are posted on their Bandcamp page (be sure to check out the two free downloads of the title tracks),  and I’m glad that I read the words to all seven songs listed. Their songs are gorgeous, but the lyrics are not all sunshine and roses. They are provocative and ambiguos to say the least, exposing a darker facet of the fantastic world of Lord Huron. Once I knew the words, I was anxious to observe the strange beautiful sadness expressed in a surprisingly few number of words and juxstaposed against such joyful sounds. I wondered if I would feel differently about songs like ‘Into the Sun’, a dark and melancholy tale set to a bright, sweet melody:

I’m gonna sail that boat right into the sun, cause everybody knows that’s how it’s done. Now don’t you cry and don’t you wait, if I meet my end, well, that’d be my fate.

You are as soft as a feather. You are as gorgeous as ever. You are exactly what I should want. But I don’t want you.

 

 

They began their set at Echoplex last night at about 9:30pm, allowing ample time for a solid crowd to assemble in front of the stage. The quintet consisted of a lead singer and guitar player who also played a tom drum and cymbal,  as well as two other guitarists, a drummer/vocalist, and a bass player who also played the theremin. The lead singer opened with a simple “Hello friends. How’s things?” before the set kicked off with the appropriate and expressively titled ‘Mighty’. When he wasn’t singing into the mic, he was moving all around the stage, taking time to jam with the other members of the group. The rhythym guitarist and bassist did the same thing, locking into each other’s grooves before moving over to the drummer and lead guitarist. The drummer’s kit was elevated, but he still had a kick drum on the floor which he somehow managed to operate while standing up and singing. He began with brushes, then alternated between using drumsticks and even maracas on his various toms, bongos, and electronic drum pad. ‘The Stranger’ was a brooding, paranoid romp featuring slide guitar solos and slap bass. The lead singer good-naturedly dedicated the song “to their friend Graham, because he is the strangest”. I couldn’t help but wonder who their lyrics were directed at or why, only adding to the group’s seemingly conflicted aura:

 

 

‘When Will I See You Again?’ was a lush, expansive waltz that the audience immediately began to sway to. A plaintive guitar melody preceded the opening heartbroken verse, followed by vocals echoing the title:

If you got what you came for why should you stay?
If you know where you’re going why delay?
If you won’t be returning don’t say goodbye.
Turn you back on the ocean and follow the sun through the sky.

I’m an absolute sucker for gut-wrenching lyrics like these, and to see them performed with such emotion and flair only enhanced their enormous weight and dissonance. Smoke drifted across the stage amidst multi-colored lights, giving one the impression that the quintet was actually on some tropical island somewhere, pining for star-crossed lovers long gone. But sadness is not all Lord Huron has to offer, and they ended their set with the glistening nostalgia of ‘We Went Wild’, a thoughtful reflection of days better spent carefree and in love:

I couldn’t get tired, although I should have been sleeping.
For the first time I wasn’t hard of feeling.
And at night, while the others were dreaming, we went wild.
We’d go running through the temples and the forests of the isle.
For thirteen of those sleepless nights I thought I’d never die.

If you missed them last night, catch Lord Huron at The Tarpit on Monday, November 22nd. The Tarpit is located at 609 North La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles.