On the indie-folk and rock project Free Range’s 2023 debut LP Practice (which earned praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, and the Chicago Reader), frontperson Sofia Jensen chronicled the tumultuousness of growing up — and their sophomore album Lost & Found is about trying to feel like an adult. It centers striving for connection even when you’re surrounded by people and struggling to be emotionally open. “You tell me to be honest / and that’s what I find the hardest,” Jensen sings on the acoustic rock song “Conditions,” - this lyric could be the album’s thesis.

Jensen and their band — bassist Bailey Minzenberger, drummer Jack Henry, and Andy Krull on pedal steel — recorded Lost & Found in Silsbee, Texas with producer Tommy Read; Read’s sister Hannah Read (a.k.a. Lomelda); and Eric Adams of Acre Memos. Major inspirations included Elliott Smith’s Either/Or and Townes Van Zandt, whose lyrics showed Jensen “that you could be earnest and still be taken seriously.” As they open up across Lost & Found, they emerge more fully formed than ever before.