REVIEW: Lost Leaders / Byland @ The Falcon, 9/20/2024

Give me one damn thing that’s true….

by Ree Miller

Well, the boys were back in town last night a short stay. Lost Leaders played the Falcon in Marlboro to a packed house of devoted followers and curios diners. IYKYK. The devoted are always ready to get lost on another musical adventure with our leaders, lost ‘tho they may seem. Any accidental diners got more than a great meal and a Friday night libation, last night.

The show was a soft launch of their latest collection, “Hungry Ghosts.” Their particular brand of cleverly phrased musings on the human condition employs musical sleight of hand aimed at drawing their audience into their curious world. Then bam! Before you know it, the trap is sprung and you are lost. Lost to the desire to figure out what they are talking about: Is it autobiographical? Who is it about? How did they twist the order of those words? How is it I understand them? They me? Where did those sounds and harmonics and beats come from and why do they work so well? (They’ve had me since 2015 and I’ve been in the Land of the Lost ever since.)

Joining Peter Cole and Byron Isaacs (The Lumineers and Ollabelle) were Will Bryant (The Restless Age and Night Flyers) on keys and Randy Schrager ( Jesse Malin’s band) wielding the sticks (usually handled by Lee Falco, currently on tour with Amos Lee). Cole is a guitarist’s guitarist. Part Metallica shredder, part jazz impresario, part ‘punkster’ (Check out “Lava Baby”). Cole, in combination with Isaacs’ able and anything but basic bottom bass line – sometimes electric like this concert; sometimes upright; and sometimes on “The Hydra” – support each other’s inventive lyrics, melodies, and harmonies to present modern Americana at its best.

The concert included: “Get Back Home” “Cherie La Rue” “Day Drinking” “Gone So Fast”

My favorites today among the new songs are:

“Cherie La Rue,” Isaacs’ subtle, metaphorical description of life on the road. To my mind, she’s depicted as a beautiful, beneficent/maleficent. One that is gluttonous and never sated, but a necessary evil to makers of music in the industry’s environment. Sprinkling his special brand of aural interpretation of road music is Cole, cranking on his axe to produce some choice overdrive tones, judicially applied. He paints with diagonal sonic lines like an old master adding excitement to their work of art. Such effects give you the apt impression that the road is likely to cheat on you; mow you down; gobble you up; and leave you in a heap a la a Steven King story. (Maximum Overdrive anyone?)

“Day Drinking,” Cole’s interesting thumbnail sketch of one person’s life in suburbia: bath robe, voyeurism, clutching one’s liquid of choice. It’s a clever tune delivered in Cole’s droll, dry, earnest delivery. It’s too short IMHO, though. Maybe the day drinker passed out. Cole shared with the audience, upon a moment of introspection, he thinks the story is about one who hit the lottery and doesn’t need to work, rather than one who is a wastrel. I can’t wait to pry the truth out of him in an
interview (hint hint).

I would be remiss if I did not write of the contributions of Bryant and Schrager. Aside from the newly released, the night included eleven selections from the Lost Leaders cannon. Bryant applied the tinkling and rhythm required of every song old or new. He also added his special brand of harmonies while sitting at the keyboards watching the leaders spin their yarns. Schrager more than kept time with his able drums and percussion, no mean feat having to learn another’s strokes and fills. He also leant his voice to harmonizes when called to serve. While I am used to seeing Falco in the best seat in the house, this follower appreciates his being called up to play along.

Opening the show was Alie Byland from Seattle, Washington, whose business card bears the marquee “Cinematic Indie-Rock.” It’s as good a mission statement as any for this new- to-me talent. Interspersed between her songs, Alie introduced herself and her husband/co-writer/merch-husband, the songs, her motivation, and the Lego dog head gifted her by a strangely perceptive child. Alie struck me as a un-quantifiable talent, the likes of which I have not heard. So let me try, ‘cause I like boxes: she struck me as a blend of Kate Bush on “Wuthering Heights” (her best song), Tori Amos on “Baker Baker,” with a subtle, shy bit of Jewel’s yodeling somewhere in there. I could have her all wrong, but I got her latest CD “Heavy for A While,” to see if I have her pegged. I’ll let you know! You can look her up at bylandmusic.com and where you swim in your music stream.

Meanwhile, Lost Leaders can be found next at Fete Lounge in Providence Rhode Island on Sept. 24; Spotlight at the Paramount in Huntington, Long Island on Sept. 26; Heaven Can Wait in New York City, on Oct. 1.; and Concerts in the Studio in Freehold, NJ on Oct. 26.

If you are unable to catch Lost Leaders, please find them where you stream your music or look them up at LostLeaders.net “Hungry Ghost” is there – so feed it and your head.