Little Neon Limelight

One of my favorite weekend listens of the past 10 years.

Hm’s first album was frighteningly perfect in terms of songwriting, arranging and capturing specific moods through brilliant performances. Could they do a second time? They could... and they did. While there were four of them then and now only three, life is still better for having and hearing these amazing gifts.

This musical sound is few and far between now. Love it.

Ecstasy: After eagerly waiting for this album to drop, I remember being just absolutely gobsmacked that the band managed to create an album that was actually better, overall, than their amazing first one. I had hoped for a sophmore album as good, but never dared to dream it would be better. Limelight officially cemented Houndmouth as my favorite band. It's darn near a perfect album from darn near the perfect band. I love bands that I can just preorder and trust that it will be a good investment and they proved that they are one of them with Limelight. Houndmouth are one of those very rare bands that I listen to and wonder why I waste my time listening to any other music. There's only a limited amount of music I can hear in my lifetime and you don't want to waste your ears time. To be honest, i've only really had this feeling for just Jim Croce and now Houndmouth. Devastantion: I had been riding a high off this album for over 2 years awaiting word of their 3rd album only to find out recently that Katie Toupin has left the band and my world is a little darker as a result. Apparently she's decided to "pursue her own musical career alone." Musically, my heart is broken by the news and neither she nor the boys will be quite as good separately. Tears wiped, now for the album review. The first thing that became apparent to me when listening to this album was that they did not change (to that point) with growing fame. If anything, they became even more real and raw in their approach and it worked beautifully. 15 Years (my favorite track) is a great example of this. It's bursting at the seams with raw energy and unfettered by needless artiface. That's all you need when you have this much natural talent in a band. The second thing that became apparent was that the first album was no fluke. Clearly every member of this band is a top shelf-musician and also a very competent-to-great singer. All four of them could be a lead singer of their own band and it would be something i could get into. But together, the result is meteoric. The harmonizing is achingly perfect on tracks like Black Gold. Instrumentally, the game has been stepped up even higher. The guitar work went from really good on Hills to just flat out great on Limelight. There's an almost rockabilly vibe with stunning chord and tempo changes. This really became apparent on their SXSW live album (Their best album. Check it out!!) and enhanced my appreciation of this studio version. The stats on this album are just unbelievable. Overall there are more 5 star and more 4 star songs than on Hills. A "weak" song for them still lands in the very high 3 star to low 4 star range. That's an amazing thing to type about any band or album. And what's more, the 4 star songs are pretty much just as great as the 5 star songs, they're just a little slower than i'd like and that bumps them down by comparison to songs like Sedona, Otis and 15 Years. As is the case with most albums, the lower song ratings are grouped more towards the back of the album. A full breakdown of the song ratings follows below: Sedona - 5 (One of their best. This album's Hey Rose) Otis - 5 15 Years - 5 (My favorite) For No One -4 Black Gold - 5 Honey Slider - 4 My Cousin Greg -5 Gasoline - 4 (Katie's true moment to shine - and she did) By God - 4 Say It - 4 Darlin' - 3 Nothing weaker and no throwaways. Simply amazing.

I love this band so much. They were great live and these songs are amazing!!

I would give 6 stars if I could.

Can not wait to see where the future is headed for these talented humans.

I heard a 4 second snippet of Sedona while boyfriend scanned stations on radio...'Turn that back!' Took note of artist and song and listened. I listen to this on repeat all day at work (work on a production line). It's cool, laid-back music and reminds me of hanging out in a park sipping ice cold lemonade with a bunch of friends enjoying beautiful sunny weather!

An unforgettable album. Buy it you will not be disappointed.

Heard a small part of Sedona, I'm hooked. This band is amazing and I recommend it to every living person!