Album Review: Sister Hazel’s ‘Lighter In The Dark’

Written by Annie Reuter
Album Review: Sister Hazel’s ‘Lighter In The Dark’

Sister Hazel will release their first new album in five years this Friday (Feb. 19) with the versatile Lighter In the Dark. Friends and musicians for over 20 years, Sister Hazel’s 14-track release embodies each of the five members’ influences with help from some of Nashville’s hit songwriters including Ashley Gorley, Luke Laird and Hilary Lindsey, among others. Coupled with an appearance by Darius Rucker and up-and-coming singer/songwriter Jillian Jacqueline, Lighter In the Dark is a wide range of music that is sure to please every listener.

The band kicks off their 13th album with the upbeat and soaring “Fall Off the Map,” just one of several tracks that recall the Eagles with driving guitar parts and spot-on harmonies. Easy to envision in a live setting, it’s an adequate introduction to the remaining 13 songs.

Meanwhile, “That Kind of Beautiful” follows with added energy. It is a descriptive song that highlights frontman Ken Block’s voice alongside grooving guitar and vivid images of the most beautiful aspects of life like a long drive, a sunset on the beach and a fan singing back their songs word for word in a concert setting.

Darius Rucker guests on the fast-paced “Karaoke Song,” an ode to every listener’s go-to song to sing in a karaoke setting, written by Rucker, Andrew Copeland and Barry Dean. Rucker’s memorable baritone trades verses with Block for an enjoyable collaboration that remains long after the last note is sung.

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The rollicking “Kiss Me Without Whiskey” is another album highlight with a piano interlude and foot stomping guitar. Additionally, “Something to Believe In” serves as a song for all the dreamers. Written by Copeland and Tom Douglas, the lyrics strike a chord for the listener as well as Copeland’s bandmates. “I’m just a kid from Gainesville watching Petty with my lighter in the dark,” the lyrics echo.

“It gave me chills,” bassist Jett Beres recalls of first hearing the song. “It’s who we were. It’s who we still are. It’s the beauty of music.”

Another track, the piano-led “Almost Broken,” took a different direction when producer Chip Matthews suggested the band add a female vocalist to the mix. The already somber song about a couple trying to make things work soars with Jillian Jacqueline’s added harmonies. Later, “Thoroughbred Heart” continues the relationship struggles as the song details a man struggling to open himself up to his partner.

While the ballads showcase Sister Hazel’s talent, it is the upbeat songs that celebrate their musicianship most, like on the Eagles-esque “Take It with Me” with plenty of banjo and slide guitar, the throwback “Prettiest Girl at the Dance” with wavering pedal steel and the guitar-heavy “We Got It All Tonight.”

“We’ve always been unclassifiable,” Beres explains. “We’ll put out a record and go, ‘What is it? Is it country music? Is it Southern rock? Is it pop? is it college acoustic, alternative?’ It doesn’t matter! It’s just us doing what we’ve always done. We’re writing about who we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going. And we’ve never done it as well as we have on Lighter In The Dark.”

This can be seen firsthand on the uplifting “Danger Is Real” where the band sings, “if your heart has a dream don’t bury it / ’cause the best things in life are the scariest / girls and boys danger is real but fear is a choice.” A mix of folk, country and even slight pop influences, it’s a song that sums up Sister Hazel’s versatility.

“Through it all, we’ve just kept getting better as a band,” Ryan Newell concludes. “We’ve matured as songwriters. Each time we record, I feel more proud of our new album than the last one because I can hear us still growing.”

Pre-order your copy of Lighter In The Dark HERE.