The Lumineers

Amid the trailers for a film I saw recently was some sort of advertisement that featured a song and the rules for creating a hipster anthem. I don't remember them all, but one I remember was use the word "Hey!" I thought of that while listening to the eponymous debut album of The Lumineers, who are among those retro folk-rock acts that have hit it big lately. They have guys wearing fedoras, playing mandolins, and use hand claps and the word "hey" frequently. In fact, their biggest song is "Ho Hey."

While The Lumineers may fit the cliche, the album is sonically very good. The production by Ryan Hadlock is clean and crystal clear, and while sitting here listening to it on good equipment it fills the room with a lovely sound. The songs themselves are pretty good, although the band doesn't create much diversity--all of them seem plucked off the same tree. They all have lead vocals by Wesley Schultz, who has a kind of tremulous, on-the-edge-of-crying quality that sometimes can be a little grating.

There are some lovely songs on the album, though. I particularly liked "Dead Sea:"

I stood alone, upon the platform in vain
The Puerto Ricans they were playing me salsa in the rain
With open doors and manual locks
In fast food parking lots

I also like "Stubborn Love," even though it contains the trite message that "It's better to feel pain, than nothing at all." But it's a terrific song with a terrific arrangement. Another beautiful song is "Charlie Boy," an anti-war song:

"Charlie boy, don't go to war, first born in forty-four
Kennedy made him believe we could do much more"

Another favorite is "Big Parade," which seems to be a combination of a love song, a cynical look at a parade featuring politicians and beauty queens, and a fixed boxing match.

"Ho Hey" is the song they are most known for, and it is a catchy tune, but I'm more partial to the darker songs on the record, such as the last, "Morning Song," a break-up song, that features these devastating lines:

"And did you think of me when you made love
To him, was it the same as us
Or was it different, it must have been"


The Lumineers are a band to look out for. I'd love to see more experimentation on their next record, and maybe ditch the fedoras, but otherwise, this is a solid record.