Lord Huron, the project of Los Angeles-based songwriter, musician and visual artist Ben Schneider, has announced a new album, “The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1,” which is due out July 18th via Mercury Records. The band have been teasing the new album over the last few months with singles/videos, ‘Who Laughs Last’ and ‘Nothing I Need,’ but now we have confirmation of a name and a date. This is Lord Huron’s fifth album and was written and co-produced by Schneider. Alongside Schneider are his band members Tom Renaud, Mark Barry and Miguel Briseño, and a host of collaborators, including actress Kristen Stewart (on ‘Who Laughs Last’) and Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino (on ‘Fire Eternal‘). The album title references the mysterious machine featured on the cover art. Schneider asks: “What if you could choose your fate like choosing a song on a jukebox? What if your finger slipped, and you got the B-side instead? What if you misunderstood the meaning of the dang song to begin with?”
The most recent single, ‘Looking Back‘, also serves as the album’s opener. “Something changed the day you left, and I’ll never know just what // I’ll spend my whole life looking up and wondering who I am // Something tells me you and I will never meet again // Gonna see if I can live outside the lines of my body and mind.”
Expanding on the song’s theme, Schneider notes, “The weight of your past can distort your present and future, the way massive celestial objects warp the fabric of the universe. Like a bowling ball on a trampoline. This song wonders if it’s possible to let go or if looking back is a fundamental law of existence.”
Lord Huron first made a name for themselves in 2012 with their debut album “Lonesome Dreams“. “Strange Trails” followed shortly after featuring the multi-platinum single ‘The Night We Met,‘ now one of Spotify’s Top 30 streamed songs of all time. In 2018, the band earned widespread critical acclaim with “Vide Noir”, earning it their first Top 5 debut on the Billboard 200 chart. Along with the follow-up, 2021’s “Long Lost” (reviewed by AUK here), the albums garnered acclaim from NPR, TIME, Los Angeles Times, SPIN, Stereogum, Wall Street Journal, and more, who praised the immersive world the band created and its companion four-part live event “Alive From Whispering Pines”.
Later this month, they kick off an entirely sold-out spring tour in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the aforementioned “Strange Trails“. Then, beginning this summer, they embark on their biggest headline tour to date, hitting landmark venues, including Madison Square Garden in New York City and Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Select performances feature support from Waxahatchee, Feist, Kevin Morby and more.
Lord Huron UK Tour Dates 2025 (support from Pillow Queens)
Thu 18th Sep – Bristol, Bristol Beacon
Sun 21st Sep – Manchester, O2 Apollo Manchester
Tue 23rd Sep – Edinburgh, Usher Hall
Wed 24th Sep – London, 02 Academy Brixton
Lord Huron is what it would sound like if The Doors played with R.E.M. as a single band.