Lord Huron make a bold leap on Vide Noir

Calling your third album Vide Noir is a bold move. Not only does it immediately present a needed translation, but once done so, presents you with one of humanities biggest fears - a black void.

So, how do Lord Huron approach such grandiose ideas? Rather spectacularly actually. The ethereal harp and choral vocals twinned gently plucked strings that ring in this third outing immediately project ideas that may sit on a station way out of reach, but it feels like Vide Noir isn’t supposed to be received this way.

While “Lost In Time and Space’” feels just like that - a wandering journey through the cosmos with an angelic soundtrack, instead, it, and the album after it offers you the opportunity to delve into what your life might pertain.

Though it does sit on the expected side of the sonic line for Lord Huron, it’s “Never Ever” where the engines really kick in. A distorted rollicking number that drives like a The Killers track, it has all the makings of an epic run and is just the beginning for Vide Noire.

The sound of “Never Ever” is swiftly followed up by the one-two of “Ancient Names (parts I & II)”. Which feature more pounding drums and determined instrumentation from the first part, but it’s the second part where the energy really comes through and Lord Huron feel like a beast unleashed.

While the folk-essence lies below and often comes through in its truest form, the developments are clear and passionately welcomed all across Vide Noir. Where a band like Mumford & Sons abandoned ship from their beginnings to a mixed result, it sounds like Lord Huron have managed to evolve forward incorporating electric elements in a major way without forfeiting any kind of integrity.