Then Came the Morning, the second album by the Southern-born, Brooklyn-based indie-folk trio the Lone Bellow, opens with a crest of churchly piano, a patter of drums, and a fanfare of voices harmonizing like a sunrise. It’s a powerful introduction, enormous and overwhelming, as Zach Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kanene Pipkin testify mightily to life’s great struggles and joys, heralding the morning that dispels the dark night: “Then came the morning! It was bright, like the light that you kept from your smile!” Working with producer Aaron Dessner of the National, the Lone Bellow has created a sound that mixes folk sincerity, gospel fervor, even heavy metal thunder, but the heart of the band is harmony: three voices united in a lone bellow.
"The feeling I get singing with Zach and Brian is completely natural and wholly electrifying,” says Kanene. “Our voices feel like they were made to sing together."
Long before they combined their voices, the three members of the Lone Bellow were singing on their own. Brian had been writing and recording as a solo artist for more than a decade, with three albums under his own name. Kanene and her husband Jason were living in Beijing, China, hosting open mic nights, playing at local clubs and teaching music lessons. Zach began writing songs in the wake of a family tragedy: After his wife was thrown from a horse, he spent days in the hospital at her bedside, bracing for the worst news. The journal he kept during this period would eventually become his first batch of songs as a solo artist. Happily, his wife made a full recovery.
When Kanene’s brother asked her and Zach to sing “O Happy Day” together at his wedding, they discovered their voices fit together beautifully, but starting a band together seemed impossible when they lived on opposite sides of the world. Brian soon relocated to New York and Kanene moved there to attend culinary school a couple years later. The three got together in their new hometown to work on a few songs of Zach’s, he’d been chipping away at the scene as a solo artist for awhile by then. After hitting those first harmonies did they decide to abandon all other pursuits. Soon the trio was playing all over the city, although they considered Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side to be their home. They opened for the Civil Wars, Dwight Yokam, Brandi Carlile and the Avett Brothers, and their self-titled debut, produced by Nashville’s Charlie Peacock (the Civil Wars, Holly Williams) and released in January 2013, established them as one of the boldest new acts in the Americana movement.
After two hard years of constant touring, the band was exhausted but excited. By 2014, they had written nearly 40 songs on the road and were eager to get them down on tape. After putting together a list of dream producers, they reached out to their first choice, the National guitarist Aaron Dessner, who has helmed albums by the L.A. indie-rock group Local Natives and New York singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten.
“It occurred to me that it would be fun to get together and make music with them,” says Aaron. “My main interest in producing records is community and friendship more than making money. I already do a lot of traveling and working with the National, so when I have to time to work with other artists, it should be fun and meaningful.”
“Aaron is just so kind,” Zach says. “And he has surrounded himself with all these incredibly talented people, like Jonathan Low, the engineer. His brother Bryce [Dessner, also a guitarist for the National] wrote these amazing brass and string arrangements, and he got some of his friends to play with us.”
Dessner and the Lone Bellow spent two weeks recording at Dreamland in upstate New York, a nineteenth-century church that had been converted into a homey studio. The singers found the space to inspire the emotional gravity necessary for the material and the acoustics they were looking for. (For Kanene, Dreamland had one other bonus: “I’m a big Muppets fan, and it looks exactly like the church where Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem lived.”)
Aaron set them up in a circle in what had once been the sanctuary, with microphones hanging in the rafters to capture the sound of their voices bleeding together. Most of the vocals were recorded in single takes, a tactic that adds urgency to songs like “Heaven Don’t Call Me Home” and “If You Don’t Love Me.” “There were a couple of times when somebody sang the wrong word or hit a bad note, and we just had to keep going,” says Zach, who says that recording “Marietta” in particular was daunting—especially the moment near the end when he hits an anguished high note, bends it even higher, and holds it for an impossibly long time. It’s a startling display of vocal range, but it’s also almost unbearably raw in its emotional honesty.
“‘Marietta’ is probably the darkest song on the whole record,” Zach explains, “and it’s based on something that happened between my wife and me. The band was getting ready to record that song when all of a sudden my wife showed up with our youngest baby. It was a great surprise, a beautiful moment. So I was able to go out and sing that song, knowing she was there to help me carry the moment.”
“These are true stories,” says Brian. “These aren’t things we made up. We tried to write some songs that had nothing to do with our personal stories, but we just didn’t respond to them. But we’re best buds, so we know each others’ personal stuff and trust each other to figure out what needs to be said and how to say it.” Case in point: Brian wrote “Call to War” about his own struggles during his twenties, but gave the song to Kanene to sing. “The content is painful and brutal,” she says, “but the imagery, the vocals, they build something delicate and ethereal. That kind of contrast illuminates the true beauty and power of a song.”
Says Brian, “We do this one thing together, and we carry each other. Hopefully that makes the listener want to be a part of it. It becomes a communal thing, which means that there’s never a sad song to sing. It’s more a celebration of the light and the dark.”
-Descendant Records
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I Let You Go
The Lone Bellow Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And hoped you'd come back
Hoped you'd come back to me
Oh I let you go
And hoped you'd come back
Hoped you'd come back to me
I let you go
Hoped you'd come back to me
Oh I let you go
And hoped you'd come back
Hoped you'd come back to me
Cause leaving ain't as easy as it used to be
You wear my heart on your sleeve
Oh I let you go
Hoped you'd come back to me
Letters that I write
You won't find you lonely
Won't find you thinking about me
Oh I let you go
And hoped you'd come to me
The Lone Bellow's "I Let You Go" is a poignant and heart-wrenching song about the struggles of letting go of someone you love. The lyrics are simple and repetitive, but convey a powerful message about the difficulty of moving on from a relationship. The opening line, "I let you go, and hoped you'd come back," sets the tone for the rest of the song. The singer has made the difficult decision to end the relationship in the hopes that their partner will realize what they're missing and come back.
However, as the song goes on, it becomes clear that this is not an easy decision to make. The repeated line, "Hoped you'd come back to me," highlights the singer's continued longing for their partner, despite the pain they have caused. The line, "Leaving ain't as easy as it used to be," suggests that the singer is struggling to come to terms with their own feelings and the impact of their decision. The final lines of the song, "Letters that I write, you won't find you lonely, won't find you thinking about me," underscore the singer's sense of loss and the realization that their partner may never come back.
Overall, "I Let You Go" is a powerful and evocative song that captures the emotional complexity of letting go of a relationship. The repeated refrain emphasizes the struggle to move on, while the simple, heartfelt lyrics convey a sense of longing and heartbreak.
Line by Line Meaning
I let you go
I released you from our relationship
And hoped you'd come back
But I still want you to return to me
Hoped you'd come back to me
I desire for you to come back to our relationship
Cause leaving ain't as easy as it used to be
Breaking up with someone is not as simple as it may seem
You wear my heart on your sleeve
You are very open about your emotions towards me
Letters that I write
I express my feelings through writing
You won't find you lonely
Even without me, you won't feel alone
Won't find you thinking about me
You have moved on and do not have me on your mind
Oh I let you go
I made the conscious decision to end our relationship
And hoped you'd come to me
But I still hold onto hope that you will come back to me
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: ZACH WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Bri G
I've seen them twice already live in Chicago...some of the best music out there right now. They are the real deal....I'm excited to see where they go from here!
Chris Jordan
Once again, I'm impressed and moved by you all! You are all such an inspiration to me. Your lyrics hit me every time and those harmonies just become a part of me. Wow that was corny, but thats actually how I feel lol!
Carla Pellicci
You guys could sing the alphabet and it would sound amazing!!! I saw you this past summer in Newburyport, Mass...best concert EVER!! Keep those hits coming!!
Chuck's Page
Love it !!!!
Cali Redd
I love this group and just became a recent fan a few months ago. I was in the theater today waiting for the movie to start and a song was playing. The screen was dark so I could not see the title. I only remembered "I let you go, hoped you come back" I was finally able to find the song and was pleasantly surprised that it was by Lone Bellow.
Chris Jackson
So great guys. Love from Toronto.
Zoe Wanders
Best song ever :,)
Lee Lee
♡♡♡♡♡