Four years after the critically acclaimed The Murder of Love, Dodd Ferrelle drops The Tinfoil Stars and picks up a few other musicians for this year’s Lonely Parades. New incorporations to the album include Claire Campbell from Hope for Agoldensummer and the esteemed folk artist Jim White. These other layers to Ferrelle’s songwriting are definitely positive additions, making the album a collaborative success filled with more tinkling high notes and wailing understructures to accent Ferrelle’s heartfelt vocals. While the title track seems to bode of a formulaic rock album, it quickly dissolves into something much more organic and inspired within the first 10 minutes of listening. Characteristically Southern verses tell more deceivingly dark stories than one would first assume – this album starts out bolder than the last, but turns up more dulled and ambivalent by the end. A perfect example is the beautifully melancholy “Used,” where Ferrelle sings “clicking heels I’m spinning wheels/never knowing how it feels/To watch the congregations kneel/do they think they’ll all be healed?/That just all seems too unreal.” With the auditory atmosphere of a '90s alternative scene, but a disenchantment that’s right on time, Lonely Parades builds upon a firm foundation of alternative country to create a piece that easily contributes to Ferrelle’s already successful career.

Ashley Buzzy