For Their Love

The fourth full-length effort from the Nebraska-based indie rockers, For Their Love finds Other Lives in fine form, applying their moody sonic expertise to a spectral ten-song set that parses themes of self-worth and existential dread in an age of political, social, and economic turmoil. Commencing with the ruminative Sound of Violence, a sumptuous bit of 60s-leaning orchestral pop that evokes the Wally Stott string arrangements of Montague Terrace-era Scott Walker, For Their Love was self-produced in Oregons Cooper Mountain region in frontman Jesse Tabishs A-framed cabin, and the material mostly reflects that pastoral setting. The groups love for sharp Morricone-worthy guitar stabs and ascending choral vocals is evident throughout, with the sinister Nites Out, a churning sea of orchestral bombast worthy of a 007 action set-piece providing the biggest bang for the buck. The plaintive Dead Language, with its high and lonesome harmonica and fluttery piano, filters the groups widescreen vision through more of a portrait lens, but it retains its predecessors classicist 60s cinema vibe, as does the more sprightly title track, which incorporates bursts of loungey bossa nova into its distinct, anglophile-kissed brand of chamber-Americana. For all of its adherence to in-the-moment takes and attempts to dial back some of the studio chicaneries of earlier outings, For Their Love is still almost alarmingly ornate -- some of that might have to do with the omnipresent cathedral-like reverb -- but much like 2015s similarly outstanding (and elaborate) Rituals, theres really never a dull moment. ~ James Christopher Monger