Familiar arias that sail and sink evoke nostalgic and melancholic emotions, unearthing distant memories never experienced, yet close enough to cherish. Introspective lyrics echo romance and heartache, the pace unhurried and the phrasing exquisite.

Long Lost is Lord Huron’s fourth studio album released on May 23. The album features 16 tracks beautifully engineered and produced by lead vocalist Ben Schnieder, drummer Mark Barry, guitarist Tom Renaud and bassist Miguel Briseno.

Lord Huron’s recording studio, the Whispering Pines Studio, is the inspiration for the album. Rumoured to have been built for American singer and songwriter Sam Cooke, it is a vintage refuge of mystery and intrigue. Although in use for several years in the 1970s to 1980s for various recording ventures, the studio was abandoned for decades before Lord Huron bought it off Craigslist.

Due to lack of use, much of the studio was refurbished and recording equipment replaced. However, the interior of the studio still has remnants of it’s fascinating past. Chipped wooden chevron floors juxtapose sultry black walls littered with red and pale blue accents. Incandescent yellow lighting contributes to a cozy aura while lending itself to the room’s ghostly past.

Long Lost follows the stories of fictional ghosts that may haunt the WP Recording Studios’ murky past. Each song is written from the point of view of different characters from varying time periods. Throughout the album, listeners are introduced to characters Leigh Green, The Phantom Riders, Roy Casey and iconic lovers Donny and Midge.

Tubbs Tarbell is the main fictional narrator and producer of this album, starting the WP Studio after hearing Donny and Midge’s intertwining harmonies at a dive bar called the Broken Bottle. Tarbell dedicates his life to allowing others to experience the pleasure he felt that night and scouts many more acts from the bar.

The album begins with a reference to Lord Huron’s third studio album, Vide Noir. Fictional cowboy characterRoy Casey (sung by Schneider) laments leaving his lover for an emerald star in the sky. The same tone is repeated in “The Moon Doesn’t Mind” and “Mine Forever” as Casey lusts for his lover to the unsympathetic heavens. “Love Me Like You Used To” is a continuation of this longing.

Tarbell describes this song as a “classic lovelorn country ballad”, although the performer of the track is unclear. The performer’s twangy tune seeks out only his lover, asking  (Do you love me anymore?) and promising he will only love her as (Lord I know I’ve made mistakes but I am different now, I’ve changed) 

“Meet Me In The City” is an outlier in the album, taking on a darker and heavy-hearted tone with an alluring persistent riff. The narrator of the song asks a woman to leave her old “ball and chain” relationship to be with him for a wild night of adventure in the city.

In lead singles “Long Lost” and “Not Dead Yet,” the imagery paints a lustrous and captivating depiction of traveling away from what is known. The intoxicating rhythms in “Long Lost” are performed by fictional characters signed to WP’s Leigh Green and Hauser Godwin.

“Long Lost” feels like running freely on a grassy mountain top on a dewy morning. Lyrics like leave me where the moonbeams carve through the trees like blades/let it wash over me like a flood let it ease my paincontribute to a sense of wanderlust and longing for escape into the wild from cities that once beckoned.

Harmonious lyrics encourage listeners to laugh, live fully and create one’s own meaning to life. This can be heard on “Drops in the Lake,” “Where did the Time Go” and “What Do it Mean?”

“I Lied” channels an unmistakable 1960s-era sound, detailing the ephemeral love story between Donny and Midge, whose characters are sung by Ben Scheinder and Allison Pontheir. What was originally irrevocable love between the two has now distorted to where both parties in the relationship realize neither of them can keep the promises they made. This painstaking track features the mellow beauty of an electric guitar weaving loss throughout the song.

Spoken word interludes from Tarbell and various other fictional recording artists are featured on tracks three, six and 12.

As Tarbell reminisces on performances he has seen over the years at the Whispering Pines, each memory is slowly slipping away from him by “Time’s Blur,” the 14-minute closing track at the end of the album. Each song from the album has been stretched, cut and reversed to contribute to an overall theme of time. Visual additions of blurred faces in music videos and album artwork magnify the effect.

Ultimately, Tarbell said it best on the Alive from Whispering Pines radio show.  “Time washes away what man creates, but ‘Long Lost’ might convince you that a note can live on. May you live until you die!”

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