An Evening With The Dear Hunter & special guests Naive Thieves: at Exit/In (Nashville, TN) Tue. April 9, 2013

An Evening With The Dear Hunter & special guests Naive Thieves

Nashville Scene Critic's Pick …

Although The Dear Hunter arrives in town just one week after the release of their new album, Migrant, fans are in for a career-spanning set list thanks to bandleader Casey Crescenzo’s recent decision to forego the usual protocol of stacking the deck with new songs. Although Crescenzo seems to have chosen a peculiar moment to do so, it’s yet another move that demonstrates his penchant for curve balls. Migrant — the first Dear Hunter full-length to fall outside of the epic six-album storyline the band is halfway through to date — originated from Crescenzo’s conscious effort to write songs based on just one instrument and his voice. But even if the new material leans more heavily toward stripped-down pop, The Dear Hunter’s brand of “stripped down” is nothing if not ornate. And there’s plenty of the band’s prog-ish back catalog in store to balance Crescenzo’s newfound knack for hooks.

—SABY REYES-KULKARNI