Hummingbird

Three years on the road can take its toll on any band, but LA’s Local Natives had to contend with bereavement as well as in-band friction in the period following their debut album. Against the odds, they’ve weathered the storm, returning with a slightly reshuffled line-up and a sophomore album that not only draws on those difficult times, but transmutes them into a message of hope. Produced by Aaron Dessner of The National, Hummingbird finds the quartet eschewing the Afro-beat inflections of Gorilla Manor, for lush, widescreen dream-pop that swoons and soars. And while we’re struggling to single out highlights from an album of this caliber, the slow-burning beauty of "You and I" and the beatific whirl of "Breakers" provide a great route in to one of the first great records of 2013.