Cleveland-based folk songwriter Zach Angeloni has returned with Lottery Crowd, a full-length offering of catchy, well-crafted indie folk that pairs the thoughtful lyricism of Gregory Alan Isakov with the jammy, viscous fun of Mt. Joy. Where Angeloni’s debut LP (2024’s Versions of Ourselves) leaned into sparse bluegrass introspection, Lottery Crowd is expansive and prismatic, broadening the palette with a pop-infused liveliness without sacrificing the dusty warmth of his roots. It’s the kind of music that sweeps you up in its current—it bubbles with the communal energy of a weekend festival in the heart of an Appalachian forest.
The album’s sound is a chemistry of Americana grit and grassy psych-pop wildness. Angeloni employs a nuanced approach to dynamics that balances the peaks with mild, restful moments, allowing the record to breathe as it swells. The arrangements are spacious, heightening the impressions of open sky and rustling leaves. Clean instrumentation in the rhythm section forms a stable base of operations, on top of which dances a psychedelic playfulness that is sometimes phasey, sometimes fuzzy, and always fun. The plainspoken, conversational lyrics transmit big-picture ideas through small-lens heartland portraiture, imparting a palpable intimacy to each track.
Like all self-respecting folk music, Lottery Crowd is not afraid to get political. Angeloni navigates these themes with a steady hand, weaving references to John Brown and Gaza into the fabric of the songs rather than treating them as preachy interjections. Lines like “What’s the first color that comes to your mind? / What’s the first tool that undoes mankind?” ground the record’s ideological inflections within a tight prosody. The music always comes first, but the message doesn’t get lost.
The album’s sequencing displays a clear arc, allowing the energy to fluctuate with intention. “Lotta Luck,” and “Sure, Sure” start off big with dynamic range and driving momentum, and the album never strays far from this vitality . Yet, rather than exhausting the listener, these heights serve to sharpen the contrast for the record’s quieter interior, where the more intimate moments of Lottery Crowd emerge as true emotional peaks, granted outsized weight by the space made for them. “Eileen” and “Cruel World” exemplify this balance, packing a profound vulnerability into their subdued, sweet-tempered frames. This tension finally finds its resolution in “Matriarch,” the standout track of the album. It bridges both worlds, unfolding as a delicate ballad before exploding into a lush instrumental capstone that offers genuine catharsis. The closer, “An Ode to the Mackinaw Bridge,” showcases a rowdy honky-tonk vibe that brings the journey to a fulfilling end.
Lottery Crowd is a wonderful listen from start to finish. It’s an ambitious step forward for Zach Angeloni—even if I do miss the fiddle (I’m a sucker for a good fiddle).
Listen to the album below:
Written by John Bagatta
