(((O))) : Blind Pilot – And Then Like Lions

By: Matt Bulter

It’s been five years since Blind Pilot gave us music but as soon as ‘Umpqua Rushing’, their opener on And Then Like Lions, gets into its stride, it’s like they’ve never been away. A mellow drone similar to the one that closed ‘New York’, the majestic final song on ‘We Are the Tide’, draws us in, before a poignant yet uplifting chorus envelopes us.

So far, so good – like a chance meeting with an old friend you haven’t seen in years, you feel comfortable. Except this friend is bruised; the intervening five years have been tough. As nice as it is to hear from them, you detect a melancholy that wasn’t there the last time. It’s no coincidence this album has the air of an older, wiser friend who has been affected by life.

It was written by vocalist Israel Nebeker during a period of loss; the end of a long-term relationship and the passing of his father from cancer. So the jauntiness of Blind Pilot’s previous two albums is all-but gone, barring a few songs, like ‘Packed Powder’. But the album is lush and in its poignancy and sadness, with heart-rending hooks prepared liberally throughout.

Like in ‘Which Side I’m On’, which one presumes is a post break-up song and is makes the listener almost feel voyeuristic, such is the rawness of feeling. Or ‘It Was Enough’, with its delicate acoustic guitar and fragile harmonies which evoke images of alone-ness if not loneliness – listening to it at dusk, just as the sun disappears, genuinely sent shivers up my spine. A stark trumpet and violin introduction begins the sparse ‘What is Yet’, in which Nebeker pours his heart into the opening lyrics before the song settles into familiar Blind Pilot territory. In its six-minute duration it takes you on quite a journey.

Then there is ‘Seeing is Believing’, which was written as an encouragement to Nebeker’s father. The ‘Unchained Melody’-style slow arpeggio on acoustic which begins the song opens up into an uplifting chorus, which suggests that no matter how bad things get, Nebeker sees the donut rather than the hole in life. And if that song doesn’t get you, then the title track certainly will. The song was written after Nebeker’s father died and its name comes from a phrase Nebeker’s nephews used to explain how they stood up to bullies, by “standing like lions”. It’s a beautiful ending to the album, positive and inspiring.

It’s a gentle call of defiance, an acceptance of grief at the end of what was a cathartic 10-song creation. It acknowledges that even if life throws over-ripe tomatoes at you, you can still make Bloody Marys. Let’s hope it’s not another five years before we hear from Blind Pilot again.