Then Came the Morning

Then Came The Morning, the second album by Southern-born, Brooklyn-based indie-folk trio The Lone Bellow, opens with a crest of churchly piano, a patter of drums, and a fanfare of voices harmonizing like a sunrise. It’s a powerful introduction, enormous and overwhelming as Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist and Kanene Pipkin testify mightily to life’s great struggles and joys, heralding the morning that dispels the dark night: “Then came the morning! It was bright, like the light that you kept from your smile!” Working with producer Aaron Dessner of The National, the Lone Bellow created a sound that mixes folk sincerity, gospel fervor, even heavy metal thunder, but the heard of the band is harmony: three voices united in a Lone Bellow.