For his ninth album, this year’s The Dreamin’ Kind, Langhorne Slim shifts gears from plucky Americana into big-hooked power chords and swaggering rockers. Apt, then, that the Pennsylvania songwriter kicks off the LP with “Rock N Roll,” a declaration less of intent than invitation. Slim still brims over with a wanderlust and sincere, big-eyed charm, even amid the bigger backbeat bursts and more unleashed explorations that canvas playfully across Sixties and Seventies soundtracks. Laney Jones and the Spirits set up as perfect opener behind last year’s eponymous LP that evolves her lo-fi bedroom banjo into blistering, guitar-gripped howlers. – Doug Freeman
