After dominating this year’s Grammys, Lady Antebellum is back with its third studio album, “Own the Night,” that stays close to the modern country sound that earned the band its fame.
Lead singers Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott, and vocalist and musician Dave Haywood, co-wrote all but one of the songs on the new release. The album shows off the trios’ songwriting talent as it depicts both the carefree, fun side of love and its heartbreaking, dramatic side.
The album’s first single, “Just a Kiss,” was released in May and had instant success as it showcased what the band was already well-known for: Kelley’s rough voice against Scott’s smooth tones. The musical arrangements fully back the two up by filling any vocal voids with just the right amount of banjo, mandolin and guitar. The other two singles, first track “We Owned the Night” and the album’s third release “Dancin’ Away With My Heart,” follow this same formula and are to be just as successful — at least for country radio.
The ballad “Cold As Stone” is one of the highlights of the album, with painful lyrics that relate to the numbness people sometimes want to feel when dealing with the pain of a break up. The equally powerful track “Wanted You More” laments the feeling of unrequited love with a powerful three-part harmony in the chorus and a moving string arrangement toward the end, which may leave the listener unsure whether he or she should be furious with the heartbreaker who inspired this song or thank them for the material.
Two years after the bands’ last release, “Own the Night” is the perfect album to give Lady Antebellum fans a third dose of the trio’s toe-tapping music they’ve been waiting for.