HAILING from North Carolina, Look Homeward are masters of layering, pulling in sweet-singing, textural strings at just the right moment or a thumping and grooving bass just in time for some quick-stepping merriment. Wistful banjo picking brings out the delicateness of the instrument, and gentle horns groan like cabin floorboards underfoot.
On their self-titled 2015 LP, the four-piece blends mountain music, jaunty indie-folk, and timeless pop (I mean, track three is straight-up called “Motown”) with a wink toward vaudeville fun. Lee Anderson’s warm and inviting vocals are reminiscent of folky brethren like Dawes and The Avett Brothers, and will make you wanna find a good rocking chair and run up to the North Georgia mountains for the weekend. With a name referencing fellow North Carolinian Thomas Wolfe’s first novel, Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life, Look Homeward certainly looks to the summits and meandering streams of their home turf to spin their take on Appalachian tradition.
