Lord Nelson’s Through The Night feels like a playlist walking the line between mainstream soft-rock and the more alternative, Americana-driven sounds of the underground. The music is warm and organically crafted, the sound is fresh yet mildly familiar, and the stories told vary in mood and subject matter yet consistently offer something that holds your attention and simultaneously seeks to comfort and inspire. Second Chances is all of this and starts things off beautifully. The song begins with subtlety, emerging gradually, soaking you with gentle detail. As things progress, the hook is huge – a chorus of voices make certain that concept and melody leaves its mark. Then later the music evolves to build something of a blissful rock ambiance.
Tail Lights keeps the energy strong, a leading single from the project that presents, at this point, the now familiar and totally calming sound of the band. Black Hills follows and lays out a certain sense of delicacy, though not without emotional depth and a level of rising intensity. The music builds, as hoped, and the band’s leading vocalist appears just in time to guide your through yet another entrancing story. Gorgeous guitar work and a feeling of musicianship entirely united makes for a reliable and soothing collection, right the way through.
The guitar work continues to grow more interesting and impressive later on, Fingertips has the slick style of a blues-rock classic with a crisp, modern finish. Call Me follows with what felt like a Springsteen or even slightly U2 sense of songwriting, adding to influence or more effectively expanding the Lord Nelson reach a little further. Good Time brings the bass-line and vibe required to enjoy exactly what the title implies. Safety Meeting is driven on the lightness of the keys at first, accompanied later by a lovely chord progression and a series or short, striking lines. There’s a touch of darkness in the story-line but there’s also a certain hopefulness, something which you generally grow to expect from a band who appear to create from a place of optimism and positivity.
Thoughts of whiskey and smokey rooms come through with the partly warm partly melancholy, addictive tones Southern Discomfort. After this things are redirected quite distinctly. When The Lights Come Down offers up a touch of reggae-like rhythm and swagger. The melody works brilliantly and the song makes certain to re-capture your attention should you find your mind wandering. The rise up from the verse to the hook is fantastic, a definite personal highlight from the album.
Bringing things to a memorable finish is the carefully crafted and equally wonderful Running On Back. Yet another immense chorus adds a mighty climax to the soundscape, the two alternating voices add a touch of light-hearted drama and seek to build further on that sense of inspiration, that uplifting, motivational energy that runs throughout the collection. Many of the ideas presented within touch on topics that are likely to be close to heart of many modern day listeners – topics true to the times, topics of shared struggle or difficulty. Even so, the band have approached this in an exceedingly comforting way, in my opinion. Through The Night is a supremely easy listen in its entirety and a pleasure to have play for you.
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