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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Then Came the Morning
The Lone Bellow Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Then came the morning
It was bright, like a light that you kept from your smile
Then came the morning
Like a flood from the storm that you kept from my heart
Take the dog with you when you leave
Wash my hands of all this broken heave
If you ever let me
Break the spell and try and
Leave it when we couldn't find it
Then came the morning
It was bright, like a light that you kept from your smile
Then came the morning
Like a flood from the storm that you kept from my heart
Take my words, breathe them out like smoke
Burn every single letter that I wrote
Let the pages turn to ash, I don't want them back
Everything you always said to me
Starts to sound like broken glass on streets
Spreaded out all over places where I sleep
Now you finally left me
Done with all your lying
Joy comes in the morning
You won't see me crying
Then came the morning
It was bright, like the light that you kept from your smile
Then came the morning
Like a flood from the storm that you kept from my heart
Then came the morning
It was lost when you left when you took what I felt
Then came the morning
Then came the morning
Then came the morning
Then came the morning
When the storm breaks the cold
Not towards the line I thought you stole
Start to feel what I felt way before
You broke down my front door
Popped my heart up off the wooden floor
Now I don't need your smile anymore
Then came the morning
It was bright, like a light that you kept from your smile
Then came the morning
Like a flood from the storm that you kept from my heart (then came the morning)
Then came the morning
Then came the morning
Then came the morning
Then came the morning
Then came the morning
The opening lines of this song are "Then came the morning, it was bright, like a light that you kept from your smile". This suggests that something significant has happened and there is a new beginning. The morning is bright, almost like a fresh start, and there is a sense of hope. However, the second line of the chorus, "like a flood from the storm that you kept from my heart", implies that there has been pain and turmoil before this new beginning. The storm is over, but it has caused damage, and the flood is a metaphor for the overwhelming feelings that have been kept inside.
The verses tell the story of someone who has been hurt by a partner who has lied and treated them badly. The singer is telling the partner to take their things and leave, and to forget who they thought they would never be. They want to erase all of the hurt and start again. The final verse suggests that the singer has finally moved on and no longer needs their partner's smile. The repeated "Then came the morning" at the end of the song reinforces the idea of a new beginning and a fresh start.
Line by Line Meaning
Yeah
Expression of agreement or acknowledgement
Then came the morning
After experiencing hardship, a new day has arrived
It was bright, like a light that you kept from your smile
The new day brought a sense of hope, joy and relief
Like a flood from the storm that you kept from my heart
The new day washed away pain and emotional distress caused by someone else's deceitful behavior
Take the dog with you when you leave
Take all of your belongings and go away from my life
Wash my hands of all this broken heave
Release myself from the emotional turmoil and struggle that was caused by the other person
Never forget what you thought you'd never be
Never forget the qualities or characteristics that the person thought they could never possess or achieve without the other person
If you ever let me
Note of conditional possibility
Break the spell and try and
Breaking free from the perceived emotional captivity that the other person had cast over them
Leave it when we couldn't find it
Leaving a relationship that couldn't provide what they were looking for
Take my words, breathe them out like smoke
Disregard what I had said, forget or discard them as if they were never spoken
Burn every single letter that I wrote
Get rid of all the memories, attachments or feelings related to the other person
Let the pages turn to ash, I don't want them back
I don't want anything to remind me of the past, I'm moving on
Everything you always said to me
Recalling past words, promises or intentions of the other person
Starts to sound like broken glass on streets
Those words, promises or intentions now sound as meaningless and hurtful as broken glass
Spreaded out all over places where I sleep
Memories or thoughts of the other person still linger and affect daily life
Now you finally left me
The other person has finally left them for good
Done with all your lying
The other person's dishonesty and deceit contributed to the ending of the relationship
Joy comes in the morning
Happiness and relief come after difficult times
You won't see me crying
I am moving on and not showing signs of weakness or vulnerability
It was lost when you left when you took what I felt
The other person took away all of the emotions and feelings the person had invested in the relationship
Then came the morning
A new day has arrived
When the storm breaks the cold
When the difficult times are over and the heart starts to heal
Not towards the line I thought you stole
The other person did not lead the person towards the life or goals they had thought were promised
Start to feel what I felt way before
The person is starting to remember and re-experience emotions they had felt before the relationship or during happier times
You broke down my front door
The other person caused significant emotional damage and pain to their life, represented figuratively by breaking down a front door
Popped my heart up off the wooden floor
The person is starting to feel and experience emotions again, lifting their heart up off the metaphorical wooden floor
Now I don't need your smile anymore
The person is moving on and realizing they don't need or want the other person's love or affection anymore
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Brian Christopher Elmquist, Kanene Donehey Pipkin, Zachary Ray Williams
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Paul Grzymkowski
If watching this gives you chills, as it does me, do yourself a huge favor and see them perform live. You'll be glad you did :-)
Joanne Rose
So regret not seeing them last Fall in Portland....Yes, I get chills.....
MariBeth Fair
Definitely see them live, will NOT disappoint
Adam Lorenz
First show back from Covid. So amazing
patrick ruth
This fall in Nashville
Link Union
Wow! This is a rare gem. Music should sound more like this. More honest, more genuine, more real... Love it. Job well done!
idk tbh
Yeah instead of saying bad things about people and cursing and making up words
southsidejazz
I totally agree. No fancy-arsed production that can't be reproduced live. These guys are the real deal. Can't wait for them to tour the UK
Donna Loepp
I love this song and can't get enough of hearing it. The passion and harmony pull you in. The group sings with such enthusiasm that it's contagious.
Sadie Bunch
The concert last year was so amazing. Being 16 at the time, I would never have went if my dad didnt show me this amazing band. The energy was unbelievable