On their sixth album, What a Time to Be Alive, The Lone Bellow captures the joyful vitality of their live shows, as well as the band’s deeply intimate friendship that they share in their camaraderie with their audience. The songs on this album, which were written collaboratively for the first time with the band’s touring ensemble—founding trio Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kariene Pipkin, along with drummer Julian Donio and multi-instrumentalist Tyler Geertsma—celebrate the elation of being alive while acknowledging that the path to such joy often lies through darkness and despair.
The album kicks off the New Orleans-tinged, Tom Petty-like rocker “After the Rain.” With its funked up guitars and soul shouting harmonies, the song affirms that very often the rain fails to wash away the pain and hurt of life; following such a storm, sometimes all we can do is to embrace “whatever gets us through the night/whatever makes you feel alright.” The song’s chorus reminds us that we all face such moments. Sting meets Paul Simon as the trio’s soaring vocals ride over rushing waterfalls of sound on “I Did It for Love,” a buoyant ode to the pleasures of a lifelong relationship, while the rollicking “I’m Here for You,” with its sonic echoes of George Harrison’s version of “If Not for You,” testifies to the enduring commitment of lovers to be there for each other, no matter what.
