Stream: Miner, ‘Lead Me to the Water’

Kevin Bronson on February 23rd, 2016

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Miner’s 2014 debut album “The Morning” was a DIY affair. The highlights, the singles “Hey Love” (originally on their debut EP in 2012) and “Carousel,” took on an outsized quality mostly through frontman Justin Miner’s force of will, not to mention his keening tenor. The L.A. quartet’s folk-rock finery finds an even higher gear on their sophomore album “Tuanaki,” which is out Friday. The band — Justin Miner, along with his wife Kate, brother Jeremy and Tobias Urbanczyk — made the new album in Seattle with producer Phil Ek, who has been at the controls for several albums in a similar sonic orbit, including those by Fleet Foxes and Run River North.

“Tuanaki’s” campfire anthems reveal Miner’s deft touch for traditional songwriting and instrumentation, and their knack for ascendant choruses and heart-rending earnestness. Named for an island in the South Pacific that mysteriously vanished, the album ranges from the chipper “Bonfire Cabaret” and “Better Instincts” to the wistful title track to affirming “Running With the Wolves,” on which Kate Miner takes lead vocals.

“Tuanaki” has a B-story that informs its emotional makeup. Before the recording sessions, Kate’s mother was diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease, a degenerative brain disorder that is genetic in nature. Kate and her sisters submitted to blood tests to ascertain whether they carried the Huntington’s gene, and the band made the album while awaiting results of those tests. “We were forced to confront our mortality on a daily basis during the recording process,” Kate says, “but that also reminded us to be grateful for every moment spent doing what we love most.” Upon returning home, it was discovered that Kate does not carry the gene, but her sisters do.

||| Stream: “Lead Me to the Water” and “Better Instincts”