Lord Huron

Evoking sweeping landscapes and a restless urge to roam, the American indie group Lord Huron surfaced during the early 2010s amid the indie-folk surge, weaving an expansive sound that fused folk, rock, pop, and strands of Americana. Fronted by Michigan-born Ben Schneider, the Los Angeles-based ensemble—whose name references one of the five Great Lakes—achieved broad commercial recognition in 2014 via their atmospheric, Western-tinged sophomore release Strange Trails; its final cut, “The Night We Met,” reached still wider audiences in 2017 after featuring prominently in the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. The band resurfaced in 2021 with the live-streamed concert series Alive from Whispering Pines alongside their fourth studio album, Long Lost.

Schneider, raised in Okemos, Michigan, first trained in the visual arts, relocating after studies in Ann Arbor to New York before settling in Los Angeles. What began as a solo endeavor took shape in spring 2010 during a return visit to Michigan, where he captured several nature-inspired pieces that later formed the Into the Sun EP and formally introduced Lord Huron. Recognition followed swiftly, prompting the formation of a full band to translate the material to the stage; performances commenced in August 2010 and soon expanded into extensive touring that refined their live presentation. A second EP, Mighty, arrived in November 2010, accompanied by a video for the track “The Stranger.” The following year brought continued road work, including sets at South by Southwest, Outside Lands, and Lollapalooza, at which point Schneider confirmed the lineup of childhood friends Mark Barry on drums, Brett Farkas on guitar, Miguel Briseno on bass, and Tom Renaud on guitar.

In January 2012 the group signed with independent imprint Iamsound Records and recorded their indie-folk debut Lonesome Dreams, issued later that year and followed by an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. After further touring, their second album—the Western-themed Strange Trails—was tracked in 2014 at Whispering Pines Studios in Los Angeles, emerging in early 2015 and peaking inside the Top 25 in both the United States and Canada. Placement of “The Night We Met” in a 2017 dance sequence on 13 Reasons Why propelled the song onto charts across North America, Europe, and Australia, prompting Republic Records to offer a major-label contract. Vide Noir, the band’s first release for the label, arrived in April 2018 and reached number ten on the Billboard 200. Early 2021 brought the debut of the Alive from Whispering Pines live-stream series, followed three years after their previous single by “Not Dead Yet.” Fourth album Long Lost appeared that May, climbing to number 23 on the chart; an expanded deluxe edition followed the next year. In 2023 the group supplied the song “Ace Up My Sleeve” to the film The Starling Girl.