On the record: The Lone Bellow

The band calls it “Brooklyn country.” I call it a revival! I call it another notch in the hipster-folk movement’s belt. I call it a new-age folk masterpiece featuring one of the most impressive male vocalists I've heard in a long time. Think Mumford & Sons meets Kings of Leon...then testify.

The lyrical mastery is apparent from the opening line of the album, “Green eyes and a heart of gold,” and steadily progresses on a journey of love and loss and love all over again. Each track tells a story. Each track paints a picture. The melodies get inside you and never leave. The harmonies are straight gospel. I'll say that “Bleeding Out” is an anthem, and that won't do it justice. It's not just a great song, it's also a hopeful rallying cry that dares us all to “bleed something worth bleeding out.” In “Teach Me to Know,” a man simply asks that his heart not get carried away. All the while, I find my heart getting completely carried away.

• Album: The Lone Bellow
• Artist: The Lone Bellow
• Label: Descendant Records
• Songs: (1) Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold (2) Tree to Grow (3) Two Sides of Lonely (4) You Never Need Nobody (5) You Can Be All Kinds of Emotional (6) You Don't Love Me Like You Used To (7) Fire Red Horse (8) Bleeding Out (9) Looking for You (10) Teach Me to Know (11) The One You Should've Let Go