More than a decade passed between Detroit alt-country group the Volebeats' lingering 2010 self-titled double album and its 2022 follow-up, Lonesome Galaxy, but for a band like them, the rules of time and space just don't apply. Since their 1988 formation, the Volebeats have been steadily carving out their own stylistic lane, crafting a melancholic, reflective type of post-Byrds country-rock that's struck through with psychedelia and hints of paisley underground-esque jangle. The songwriting team of Jeff Oakes and Matthew Smith (Smith moonlighting in the more rock-minded Outrageous Cherry for much of the Volebeats' tenure) have shepherded their band through the grunge years, Detroit's early-aughts garage rock revival, and multiple other passing trends, ignoring it all and focusing on creating a sound that's difficult to place within any given era. Ninth album Lonesome Galaxy fits nicely into the band's ongoing adventures outside of time, moving closer to mind-bending country-psych than the more subdued twang of earlier albums. In particular, tunes like the drifty and languid "Numbers," the wispy Arthur Lee-informed bummer psych of "Stranger," or the peppy and melodic "I Needed Someone" set off in new and different directions, straying from the band's country foundations to try on crystal-clear vocal harmonies and drawn-out arrangements heavy on guitar leads. The pushy pseudo-disco beat and slippery guitars of album opener "Diamond Ring" make the song one of the funkier moments the Volebeats have ever accomplished. Drummer Scott Michalski contributes on the songwriting side to some of Lonesome Galaxy's best songs, including the dynamic and turbulent acid-country lament "All I'm Asking" and the dramatic "The Third Time," a tune powered by moody organ and ornamented by beautiful, haunting guest vocals by Kara Meister. However long it took to arrive, Lonesome Galaxy is another excellent chapter in the Volebeats' ongoing story, with songs that sound as inspired and wonderfully self-contained as those the band turned in at any other point along the way. ~ Fred Thomas, Rovi

1		Diamond Ring
2		All I'm Asking
3		Whisper to Me
4		You Get Closer
5		Numbers
6		I Needed Someone
7		Learning to Get It Wrong
8		Don't Listen to Her
9		The Third Time
10		Stranger

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