Dead Oceans

Colorado is where it started and Tennessee is where it bloomed, but it was the open road that truly informed the alt-country troubadours of Night Beds. And translating the endless horizon of American countryside into the wandering spirit of American prose is Winston Yellen, the roadside bard at the heart of the troupe. On the latest release, Country Sleep, Yellen helms his fellow road warriors through metaphorical journeys that find lost vagabonds (“Cherry Blossoms”) and dislocated dreamers (“Ramona”) forever searching for some unnamed resolution. Even with Yellen’s grand siren call, wanderers remain hopelessly drifting on the back roads of themselves (“Lost Springs”). But it’s because of the journey that they ultimately learn what it really means to find home: “Whenever you get lost man, hold my hand” (“Faithful Heights”).