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[NPR FOLK POP] Blind Pilot has never been a band known for brashness, but never has it sounded so subtle and subdued as it does on third album And Then Like Lions. The six-piece took five years between records, a time in which singer Israel Nebeker hit some life-changing hurdles. He lost his father to cancer, ended a 13-year romance and fell out with close friends. Those tragedies make for a somber effort here, one lined with both longing and cautious optimism. Where the regretful "Umpqua Rising" is a rumination on jealousy, served via a slow-building haze of acoustic guitar and keys, "Like Lions" bookends the record with a flurry of horns and a moment of blissful triumph. "And there we are like lions," Nebeker sings over a warm bed of trumpet. "We are strong enough to give." In between, he balances more obtuse thoughts with straight-ahead narratives and swirls of lush chamber-pop orchestration, sometimes in melodramatic fashion. Like the delicate, wistful harmonies and strings that characterize "Moon at Dawn" and "Joik #3," much of it sounds as natural and befitting of the numerous references to the Pacific Northwest peppering the lyrics. But for all the personal tumult that informs Lions, Blind Pilot's fundamental nature hasn't shifted, for better or worse. The nuances make for a typically pleasant listen, but if you're not already a fan, little here is going to turn your head.
SEE IT: Blind Pilot plays Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside St., with Margaret Glaspy, on Thursday, Oct. 20. 8 pm. Sold out. All ages.
Willamette Week