Pop & Hiss premiere: Lord Huron’s ‘Stranger’
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Michigan-bred songwriter Benji Schneider records music under the moniker Lord Huron. He’s so committed to the guise that he has requested that the press call him, ‘Lord’-- a hilariously bizarre move that wins him appreciation among lovers of aristocracy and Lord Finesse alike. *
Currently based in Los Angeles, his tropically-tinted and pastoral pop occasionally recalls Fleet Foxes, ‘At Dawn’-era My Morning Jacket and Panda Bear. Merely reciting the litany of those names may cause your eyes to roll -- after all, indie rock is replete with singer/songwriters with a hard drive full of esoteric third-world sounds and falsetto voices swathed in reverb.
What delineates the Huron from the flock isn’t the sort of thing that can be quantified. He’s less interested in novelty than he is in conjuring an Arcadian aesthetic. His recently released ‘Mighty EP’ is the sort of record you expect to hear upon entering a national park, a soundtrack to the ordinary world at its most extraordinary. There’s little studio wizardry, just bongos, beautiful guitars that churn like cataracts and Schneider’s big sky voice, a salient reminder that the universe is not composed strictly of concrete and steel.
Friday night at the Echoplex he opens for Tennis, a married duo who wrote a bunch of songs on a boat. They’re pretty and pleasant, but if we’re talking nautical anthems, I vastly prefer this. Early arrival to see Lord Huron is strongly recommended. Pop & Hiss is premiering ‘The Stranger’ in advance of the performance. It’s the sort of song that will make you want to get more familiar.
* Lord Huron would like to clarify that he’s joking about people calling him Lord. Unless you want to call him Lord, in which case there’s not much he can do about that. Either way, it worked for Lord Jamar.
Download: (Pop & Hiss Premiere)
MP3: Lord Huron-’The Stranger’
-- Jeff Weiss