‘Love Songs for Losers’ is the latest cry from Lone Bellow

Lone Bellow made a stylistic shift with its 2020 release “Half Moon Light.” The Brooklyn-based band morphed from country to an indie rock sound, which found an adult alternative audience, thanks to producer Aaron Dessner (Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran).

“How we evolved felt natural,” vocalist-guitarist-songwriter Zach Williams said by phone from Healdsburg, California. “We were moving in the right direction.”

Lone Bellow, which will perform Thursday at the Knitting Factory, is on the same path as it tours behind its latest album, “Love Songs for Losers.” However, Lone Bellow decided to self-produce for the first time. The album’s well-constructed narratives range from poignant to romantic to melancholy.

“We felt it was time in our career to produce ourselves,” Williams said. “We learned a lot, particularly from Aaron Dessner, and we gave it a shot without regret. We got the bug to produce and we want to do it again. We had so much fun calling the shots and so we’ll be right there making decisions on the next album.”

However, Lone Bellow won’t be back in the studio for a while since it will tour throughout the summer behind “Love Songs for Losers,” which was released in November. The core of the tunes is simple, old-fashioned storytelling.

“We listened to a lot of John Prine and I think that had an effect on us,” Williams said. “That’s good for this band. But I also think it would be good for anyone to spend some time listening to Prine. We’re impacted by Prine who wanted to do his own thing and so do we.”

What makes Lone Bellow special is their pretty three-part harmonies and ability to veer in different sonic directions.

“When I look at this album and ‘Half Moon Light,’ I see how we are becoming more and more genre-less,” Williams said. “We’re out spreading our wings. It’s an exciting time since bands can do what they want today. There are no rules anymore. The record labels don’t know what to look for and listeners have the ability to find the music they want to hear at the drop of a hat courtesy of their phone. Music fans can find bands like us. You just have to dig deeper to find bands like us because you’re not going to hear us on the radio.”

Lone Bellow, which also includes bassist-mandolinist-keyboardist Kanene Donehey Pipkin and guitarist Brian Elmquist, is well worth the search. It’s not easy to write a song that is amusing, moving and gorgeous but the trio nails it with the album opener, “Honey.” The band receives a huge assist from pianist Jacob Sooter.

“Jacob added another flavor,” Williams said.

It’s evident that the Roy Orbison House, where “Love Songs for Losers” was recorded, rubbed off on the lovely “Unicorn.”

“Orbison’s place definitely had an impact on the album,” Williams said. “That vibe appealed to us. The Roy Orbison House is this creepy but beautiful place. There really is no place quite like it. It’s right next to where Johnny Cash’s house burned down. It’s magical”

Love songs, and there are plenty on the album, aren’t for losers. However, there seems to be fewer love songs than there were a generation ago.

“Maybe there is but we don’t care about that,” Williams said. “Again, the cool thing is that we can do anything. I don’t understand why there aren’t more love songs. When you think about it, everyone is looking for love. People can relate to love songs. I’m sure we’ll continue to write more of them.”