Album Review: The Lumineers

by The Lumineers.  This self titled debut is a vast disappointment to me.

I bought it as I had heard a single track "Ho Hey" a number of times and REALLY, REALLY liked it.  The album's current price point of $4.99 made it very hard to not acquire as an impulse buy.

For the record I also like Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers so, pseudo folksy modern acoustic music is something I enjoy--just not here.

While "Ho Hey" is an awesome song, the rest of the album falls completely flat.  There is music that is sparse and there is music that is empty.  The rest of the album is nearly devoid of emotion--which is something I require of my music.  Which is why I can't stand bands like Phish and others (no connection between Phish and this band/music, just using an example here).

While I can recognize the talent required to play music like Phish or in this case The Lumineers, if it is not played with emotion then the music just doesn't speak to me.  In this case, "Ho Hey" is the only track that is sung with passion.  The rest are just exercises in putting pen to paper and mouth to microphone.  This stands in contrast to aforementioned bands like Mumford & Sons and the Avett Brothers who both put more passion behind a single song than The Lumineers put in an entire album.  If I had to do over again I'd download "Ho Hey" and forgo the rest of the work--even at the minuscule $4.99 price.