After a four-year hiatus, The Hold Steady returned in 2014 with Teeth Dreams, the group’s sixth studio album. In between releases, the group recorded a version of “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” for HBO’s Game of Thrones—series co-creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were devoted Hold Steady fans—while lead singer Craig Finn released his debut solo record, 2012’s Clear Heart Full Eyes. Meanwhile, guitarist Steve Selvidge—who’d toured with the band for Heaven Is Whenever—had joined as a full-time member. You can hear his contributions throughout Teeth Dreams, which finds Selvidge and founding member Tad Kubler slamming out dueling guitars as Finn howls and sings his spirited, blue-collar tales of rough living and even rougher redemption. The first lyrics on the album—referring to Finn’s fictional Twin Cities gang—could double as a mission statement: “I heard the Cityscape Skins are kinda kicking it again.” With Teeth Dreams, The Hold Steady created a big, rollicking album that focuses on both heartbreak and hopeful longing. The band’s mature confidence is on full display in songs like “I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You,” “Spinners,” “The Only Thing,” and "Big Cig.” But it’s the album’s closing track—the soulful, nine-minute ballad “Oaks”—that steals the show, quenching the thirst of any Hold Steady fan who'd missed the band’s music for almost half a decade.