Kevin Bronson on October 9th, 2018

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Fairbanks & the Lonesome Light formed in Los Angeles, the union of the talents of Austin natives Erik Flores and Amelia Logan. In 2015, they released their self-titled debut — a seven-song collection of big-hearted, gently sung Americana, sweet to the last celestial note of pedal steel. Then, after the couple had a child, they moved from Echo Park back to Austin to be close to family, where their musical family expanded as well.

Their 2017 album “Nothing to Escape” is a country-fied look at life changes that can be turbulent — parenthood, addiction, geographical changes — but, owing to the duo’s guileless harmonies, arrives with a decided mien of optimism. It was produced by Raymond Richards (Honey Honey, Local Natives), who unpacked Fairbanks’ musical suitcase much in the same way he did with Portland’s the Parson Red Heads. “In the end,” Logan says, “he made us sound more like ourselves.”

The swirl of pedal steel circles Flores’ confessional “Pieces,” and Daniel Gibbs’ evocative video for the song only makes you wish you could be in the same room with Fairbanks & the Lonesome Light when they sing it.

||| Watch: The video for “Pieces”

||| Also: Stream “LA Sky” and “Nothing to Escape”