Review // The Lumineers - Self-Titled

Words // Scott Pingeton

The Lumineers - Ho Hey

Going into 2012 there were two bands I thought would absolutely explode this year.  One was Alabama Shakes, and just one week shy of the release of their debut album it's safe to chalk that one up.  The other was The Lumineers.  Both bands came into 2012 with just an EP and a healthy dose of blog buzz under their belts.  Whereas Alabama Shakes' hype was built around 4 throwback soul songs, the perch that The Lumineers found themselves on was perhaps even more precarious.  Sure, their 7 song EP was great...but much of the attention was centered around live videos of one, simple folk song.  "Ho Hey" held a lot of promise, but it was also a lot to live up to.

Driving through central Texas en route to SXSW, somewhere between Waco and Austin, Kyle (of Music Savage) threw on The Lumineers debut album and by the time the way too-short "Flowers In Your Hair" came to an end I knew that The Lumineers had delivered on the promise and buzz that "Ho Hey" had generated.  You see, I could see the band going one of two ways -- either embracing the pop-friendly melodies that form the core of their sound, and layering on shiny, unnecessary production flourishes or, letting the songs stand on their own.  Thankfully, the band took the latter path.  Stripped down to just acoustic instruments and handclaps, it's easy for the melodies, songwriting and performance shine.

If anything, the album errs too much on the side of brevity and simplicity - but that is easily forgiven given the quality of the songs.  Most of the songs are over before you know it - four of the first five tracks clock in under 3 minutes - never wearing out their welcome.  The sound is live and raw, just three musicians in a room.  The songs are catchy - strong melodies, pulsing rhythms and refrains that beg to be sung along to - but what binds it all together are Wesley Schultz's lyrics.  These are stories that carry weight, parables put to music.  It's easy to get behind music that you relate to, and that is the charm of The Lumineers.  When Schultz sings "It's better to feel pain than nothing at all / The opposite of love is indifference" on "Stubborn Love" he's singing about himself, but the sentiment is universal; everyone takes something different from those words.  That is the mark of a great song.

The Lumineers debut is successful on a lot of different levels.  The songs and arrangements are not ambitious or challenging, they're just great, catchy folk-pop songs.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  Over the past couple years The Head And The Heart have made a name for themselves with a similar formula, and I can easily see The Lumineers following a similar path.  2012 has been incredibly strong for new music so far, but this is another record that's right at the top of my list.

Order The Lumineers' self-titled debut here.  The Lumineers are playing Cafe 939 on April 20 with Kopecky Family Band - tickets are sold out.

Here's a great live video of "The Dead Sea" from The Sights Of Sounds:

New Music // Trampled By Turtles - Alone

Words // Scott Pingeton

Trampled By Turtles are probably best known for their virtuosic, breakneck bluegrass barnburners, but you're seriously missing out if you don't take the time to appreciate the slower tracks as well.  With room to breathe, the lyrics, melodies and instrumentation can really shine.  I've spent many hours with their last album Palomino over the past couple years, and while I love "Wait So Long" and "It's A War", I find myself listening to "New Orleans" and "Separate" at least as often.  "Alone", the lead single off the band's upcoming album starts as a soft, sweetly plucked ballad and steadily builds to a rousing, stomping finish.  It was one of many highlights of the hot and sweaty TBT set I caught at SXSW and it's been stuck in my head ever since. 

Stars and Satellites is out April 10 - do yourself and pre-order it here (I did).

Review // Caleb Groh - Bottomless Coffee

Words // Scott Pingeton

Caleb Groh was in high school when he released his first record under the Happiest Lion moniker.  While promising, those songs were clearly the work of a songwriter still finding his voice.  On his new album Bottomless Coffee, it's clear that Caleb Groh has found his voice.

Eschewing the Sufjan Stevens influence of his previous work, Bottomless Coffee takes on a looser, rootsier vibe and a more mature sound.  The record opens with "Bathsheba Blues" which begins as a slow, solo lament before opening up with a full-band, widescreen arrangement with plucked strings, ethereal backing vocals and a brushed snare beat.  "Catastrophic Culprit" is a vintage Ryan Adams country-rock joint, tongue-twister lyrics and a rambling, rollicking tune.  Alternating between melacholy, cinematic atmospherics and roots rave-ups, Groh paints his landscapes and portraits in sepia tones.  The laid-back vibe of these songs almost distracts from the smart, almost-poetic lyrics.  Whether it's a fragile ballad ("Hapless Dreamer") or a Crazy Horse-esque jam ("Smitten"), the lyrics are a focal point without being overbearing.  At 14 tracks the album is long, but never drags -- there's enough variety and the songwriting is strong enough to maintain interest throughout.

So, the kid grows up and delivers a wholly successful record - I guess it shouldn't really be a surprise, but it's still exciting to watch a songwriter come into his own.  Bottomless Coffee is one of the best straight-up indie-folk albums I've heard so far this year.  Do yourself a favor and grab this for just $5 from Caleb Groh's bandcamp page.

Caleb Groh - Catastrophic Culprit

Caleb Groh - Smitten

Knock Yourself Out / Filigar at SXSW + FREE ALBUM

Words // Scott Pingeton

Bands like Chicago's Filligar are a dying breed.  In a world of soulless buzz bands and overhyped hyphenated micro-genres, Filligar just fucking rocks.  Plain and simple.  They write from the heart and perform with a wild instensity, that's earned them a reputation as one of the country's best live bands.  I witnessed their live show for the first time during SXSW, and was pretty much knocked on my ass in a blaze of screaming guitars, pounding drums and roadhouse piano.

The band's excllent 2010 album The Nerve has been nominated for an Independent Music Award and to celebrate, they're giving it away for free (or whatever price you choose to pay).  Seriously, there's no reason not to do this immediately.  Here's everything you need...

And in case you need any convincing, here's a video of "Knock Yourself Out" from the Outlaw Roadshow in Austin:

Keep Your Heart Up / The Lumineers at SXSW

Words // Scott Pingeton

SXSW got off to a bit of a rough start for me.  We rolled into town on Thursday night and walked directly into the belly of the beast.  We were totally unprepared for the chaos of 6th Street during SXSW.  Our heads spinning, music blaring, thousands of drunk music fans of all persuasions swarming the streets - alcohol seemed the easiest way to assimilate.  So we did.  The rest of the night was a blur of neon and whiskey.  There was an enthusiastic fan imploring me to see Kishi Bashi the following night, some deep conversation with Kyle Hauser (banjo-toting off-duty artist) and a great set from Adam Arcuragi -- but when I finally hit the pillow that night, I wasn't quite sure what to think of the whole thing.  It was a lot to handle.

I woke up the following morning, feeling not-great.  Drank a few gallons of water, downed some Advil, headed to IHOP for some much-needed breakfast and then dove back into the madness.  But somehow, in the light of day with a full night under our belts, it all seemed so much more manageable.  The skills of logic and reason still within our grasph we consulted our schedules and decided to check out The Lumineers at the Paste Magazine / Sennheiser day party.  As we walked into the cool, friendly and relaxed confines of the Stage on 6th, SXSW finally made sense to me.  Within 5 minutes I had seen a few familiar faces from Boston and was five feet from the stage where one of my favorite up-and-coming artists was playing an incredible set.  What I realized at that moment is that SXSW was about timing -- it was totally possible, with a little planning and good fortune, to spend an entire day walking from bar to bar to bar seeing great live music.  You just had to be in the right place at the right time.

The Lumineers' charm is in their authenticity.  Those original live videos of "Ho Hey" that made the rounds however many months ago were charming because it showed a band connecting with their audience through just a simple song with a perfect melody and a heartfelt performance.  They were vibrant and electric and completely captured the spirit of live music at its best.  I was worried that as the band found success they would polish their songs to a shiny luster and lose the organic, unvarnished earnestness that had been so likeable.  After seeing a full show and listening to their upcoming debut countless times, I'm glad to report that that isn't the case.  The album (which is excellent, full review next week) is stripped-down and raw -- like the live show, it makes a visceral connection with the listener through words, melody and acoustic instruments.  That's usually all you really need.

Here is the band performing "Hey Ho" and "Stubborn Love" at SXSW:

Stubborn Love (sound gets a little better after first few seconds)

Ho Hey

Songs For Wednesday / Japandroids, Vacationer and more

Words // Adam Sharp

'The House That Heaven Built'- Japandroids
Noisy, brash, full of call and response shouting and a guitar line that makes me feel 15 again. There's not a lot to dislike.  (website)

'Broken Minds'- Northern Youth
A really well-executed, beautifully troubled anthem.  (website)

Northern Youth - Broken Minds

'Winter Solstice'- Cold Specks
An absolutely beautiful, breathtaking piece of work.  (website)

'Gone'- Vacationer
Fact: there can never be enough dreamy, shimmery pop songs full of handclaps and fingersnaps like this.  (website)

'Where I'll Be'- Horse Feathers
This is right around my 564th straight favorite new song from Horse Feathers.
website: http://horsefeatherstheband.com/

Jonah Tolchin's Cold, Dark, American Dream

Words // Scott Pingeton

Jonah Tolchin sings in a world weary, grizzled drawl, spinning tales of injustic, inequity, loss and strife.  But at just 19 years old, these are not songs of a tired, beaten-down man.  Far from it.  Tolchin sings with the passion and wide-eyed optimism that a song can change the world.  Like protest singers that came before, he builds his songs around a core message, but makes the characters and the stories universal and timeless.  Like the best folk and blues, these are songs that feel as though they have always existed, but were only just pulled out of the ether.  You've heard much of this before - it's Guthrie, Seeger, Nebraska and Steve Earle - but it's fresh when there's true passion, and Tolchin certainly has that.

These songs cover greed, apathy, corruption and the derailment of American values - none more directly than "Cold, Dark, American Dream" on which Tolchin sings:

Four black vultures on the street-light sit just laughing bout the war and politics
they said, these funny creatures they got it all wrong well it won't be long before they all are gone, oh no.

The native chief said interconnectedness has been crushed under the bus of awarelessness,
the web has been cut and were all going down gonna take a revolution to bring us around.

But if we grab the strands up one by one tie them back together so they can't come undone,
And then we take our eyes from the blue-light screen and wake up from these Cold, Dark, American Dreams.

 
From folk and blues to country and bluegrass, the album covers quite a bit of stylistic ground, making for an easy listen.  It's the kind of record you get lost in and find yourself spinning it over and over again.  The other thing that Jonah Tolchin has going for him are his friends.  Providence has a folk music scene that is perhaps rivaled only by the PNW, and most of Providence's great folk artists contribute to these songs.  Ben Knox Miller and Jeff Prystowsky (The Low Anthem), David Lamb and MorganEve Swain (Brown Bird) and Joe Fletcher all appear on the album.  But surprisingly I found that the contributions of these more well-known artists was a complete afterthought - the songs stand on their own.  It's a bit of an anachronism for a 19 year old to write from a place of hardened wisdom and maturity, but Tolchin does it well - the mark of a great songwriter.

Stream/Download the full album here

Jonah Tolchin will be filming a Kitchen Sessions performance on April 25 - the session is open to the public and free to attend, details here.

New Multitudes - Changing World + Fan Photo from The Paradise

Words // Scott Pingeton
Photo // Dylan Pech

You can't be everywhere at once, and one of the shows I had to skip when I was in Austin for SXSW was New Multitudes at the Paradise.  For those unfamiliar, New Multitudes is a folk supergroup that took on a similar task as the Billy Bragg/Wilco Mermaid Avenue project - take lost Woody Guthrie lyrics and bring them to life with music.  On the album - which I highly recommend picking up - Jim James, Jay Farrar, Anders Parker and Will Johnson each take turns in the spotlight, putting their unique spin on Woody Guthrie originals.  Jim James' take on "Changing World" is one of of my favorites, but the entire disc is a rewarding listen:

Changing World - Jim James (New Multitudes)

We'll have much more on the album leading up to their performance at Newport Folk in July, so stay tuned. 

We always encourage contributions from VV followers -- if you would like to submit live photos, concert reviews or album/track reviews, send them to visiblevoicebos@gmail.com

Faces On Film / Waiting For GA

Words // Scott Pingeton

Why Faces On Film isn't more well-known, I don't know.  Adored by bloggers and fellow musicians, they somehow fly under the radar of the broader public consciousness.  The Troubles was easily one of my favorite records of 2008, as was 2010's follow-up Some Weather.  Mike Fiore's captivating songwriting and rich compositions evoke memories and places, exuding warmth and familiarity on first listen.  Records to curl up with on a rainy day or cold night.

Mike Fiore recorded a new song, "Waiting For GA" for Shaking Through, the fantastic series that documents and celebrates the creation of new music.  The track features Fiore's hallmarks - clean guitars, lush melodies and reverby vocals.  It fits perfectly into the Faces On Film catalogue, and hopefully is a harbinger of more new music to come. 

Faces On Film - Waiting For GA

Watch the fascinating video which follows the process of arranging and recording the song, with commentary from Fiore and Marissa Nadler who curated the episode.  And check out Shaking Ground for more videos and commentary from the sessions.

Please support both Shaking Through and Faces On Film.