The Lumineers

I object to their constant smiling and phony earnest lyrics and their terrible awful name.

fwiw gis for "lumineers" is a thing of beauty

i do like this but i am a posner apologist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuBlZ9jW2Qk

I always get a little resentful when an otherwise mediocre band is propelled to stardom by stumbling onto an easy but catchy hook gimmick (hey/ho, or the whistle thing in that pb&j song)

also, they have a vaguely evangelical stink to them. i will not be surprised if

the hats

Yeah they have a ”youth group” vibe

high on life

googling hasn't turned up anything yet

I dunno I kinda like them as a mainstream "indie" folk type band but they're not exactly Andrew Bird or Ryan Adams or something...

Their lyrics are really simple and bad, I can't imagine writing an article about how uplifting or deep they are. These fucking smilin' banjo hat bands should not be the face of Americana though, it makes the whole alt-country pursuit look like a fucking joke.

I like the phrase "smilin' banjo hat bands"

Nailed

these fuckin smilin banjo hat bands are running this here town

someone on twitter called them "indie barn people music" ... i lol'd

I knew not to click as soon as I saw the "hellogiggles" in the url

don't have an opinion on this band yet but this is the most moronic website I've ever seen in my life. it's like Jean Teasdale crossed with Pamplemoose

SNL tonight was my first exposure to them, I believe. I knew they were around, but I'd been successful in never hearing or really seeing them. My hands were turning into fists as I sat there watching.

― Johnny Fever, Sunday, January 20, 2013 6:04 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Their presentation of that first song was so annoying---they were kind of like an Up With People Disney World take on folk music

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130120094036/snl/images/2/2e/SNL_The_Lumineers_temporary.png

"Civil War Wave"
http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2013/01/fuck-lumineers-and-all-other-mumford-sons-civil-war-wave-sounding-bullshit.html

I'm actually kind of fascinated by this aesthetic, tbh -- like how and why it's taken root so strongly right now. It goes hand in hand with all those Etsy-designed weddings held at farms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPKe9OfWs-M

I'm pretty ambivalent about The Lumineers, but I don't find any "THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN white supremacist confederate flag... etc" in them at all.

Yeah not at all

Do some pop music listeners simply like it better than the euro-disco beat hits

I also find it strange that this aesthetic is big right now. Is it just freak-folk reaching the mainstream? Too bad the bands that make it big, like these guys and Mumfords, sound more like banjo versions of U2 songs rather than the old, weird Americana of Joanna Newsom or Devendra Banhart. It kind of makes me want to go back and listen to some old Palace Brothers records (by old I mean from the 1990s).

"Civil War Wave"
http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2013/01/fuck-lumineers-and-all-other-mumford-sons-civil-war-wave-sounding-bullshit.html

http://i.imgur.com/GQ1ahuL.png

I also find it strange that this aesthetic is big right now. Is it just freak-folk reaching the mainstream? Too bad the bands that make it big, like these guys and Mumfords, sound more like banjo versions of U2 songs rather than the old, weird Americana of Joanna Newsom or Devendra Banhart.

yah based on the description in this thread i expected them to sound completely different than they do. then i realized i had heard the ho hey song in a drugstore a couple wks ago and at the time i thought 'oh weird i guess this is a new song, but something about the vocals sounds like a very particular strain of nineties alt'

Oh this folk-pop thing is a collegtown staple, has been for several years, even before Mumford invaded. Only a matter of time 'til some rising star of it brings their New Christy Minstrels, Peter Paul & Mary etc collection up for Uncut and/or Mojo's perusal, if they haven't already. Really liked the girl when she was playing cello on SNL. So stern, *then* so smiley--then so stern again. then...also, she's cute and I like cellos. But the yelping in "Ho Hey" was an instant pissah, way back when World Cafe previewed it.

I'm actually kind of fascinated by this aesthetic, tbh -- like how and why it's taken root so strongly right now. It goes hand in hand with all those Etsy-designed weddings held at farms.

yeh tho i don't think there's any big meaning in it such as ppl searching for perceived authenticity of a bygone era or craving a respite from feeling smothered by digital environments or what have you. think it's more just another direction to look towards for entertainment, novelty. not much different than why ppl go to medieval times or something

Yeah this whole Victorian-era throwback thing doesn't seem to have anything to do with Lost Causers or Neoconfederates or anything like that at all. Now, one could say it seems nostalgic for the time of Manifest Destiny but that is a completely different can of worms.

I guess some variation of folk-pop has long been a college staple. Though this new style seems to be crossing over a bit more than the perennial singer-songwriter, coffeehouse folk that produces occasional stars like Ani Difranco or Dar Williams, who enjoy a small but dedicated following. This new style is more anthemic, stadium-ready, band-oriented.

xxp

I guess you could blame The Decemberists but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater here...

folk-pop=quaintly poignant cuteness, not all aggressive and hairy and (sometimes) musically Downtown like Ani--see enduring success of Cracker Barrel restaurants etc. But where is our Gilbert O'Sullivan?

no, let's

xp

oh yeah, the decembrists started that whole chimneysweeper sea shanty bullshit. as far as youth trendz go old timey stuff just a cornier version of whatever else people get into.

Yeah the Decemberists were good sometimes, before this latest REM clone album, which is so popular. And I like Ani, sometimes Andrew Bird, nothing against the poppier aspect in principle either (like Gilbert O, Mamas and Papas)

Pop's always been part of the Wainwright-Roches clan's appeal too.

A friend of mine just linked to this on Facebook. Seems relevant:

http://stereogum.com/1203672/phillip-phillips-the-lumineers-and-the-mumford-ization-of-pop/top-stories/lead-story/

My gf told me her teen and tween nices listen to the Lumineers and they're playing 5,000 seat places already. These young listeners are not discovering this sound through the college sound influences and antecedents

nieces

No of course it's not collegetown only, but that's the launching pad/farm league.

Because with the overall collapse of old music biz models, shows are so important for exposure; collegetowns have venues on and off campus. schools aren't that big on booking death metal etc.

Something like the Les Miz movie seems to pertain also: miserablism padded by nerf music

Maybe the fact that as a teen I loved (and still do) The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has something to do with the fact that this latest batch of "costumed" folk-poppers doesn't really bother me a whit.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/music/images/artists/542x305/ac8a45f8-5520-4463-9fda-f63f8844cb50.jpg

"Hey, Soul Sister" kinda feels like the unofficial beginning of this trend, that was really the only 'acoustic' song on pop radio besides Taylor Swift for a while before the Lumineers/Phillip Phillips/Ed Sheeran onslaught

I also find it strange that this aesthetic is big right now. Is it just freak-folk reaching the mainstream?
― o. nate, Tuesday, 22 January 2013 16:06 (47 minutes ago) Permalink

I used to think that the way these things worked was that a sound would become popular in the "underground" or "indie" scenes and then gradually bubble up to the surface, becoming steadily more popular, but now I have a different theory that there's kind of a death and rebirth cycle where something (like vintagey freakfolk) gets played out beyond belief, has a dormant period, and THEN explodes into the mainstream

interesting idea. i remember when the italians do it better style was big for a while, then disappeared for a few years, then reappeared in the drive soundtrack. no idea if it ever took off from there.

i kind of dismiss people as having indie goggles on if they think that the inevitable return of acoustic guitars to the pop charts every decade or so has anything to do with 'freak folk'

for me this thing ties in completely with the old timey handicraft fetish that's all over Pinterest

yeah it def feels of a piece with old timey zooey deschanel "i like to listen to vinyl while i knit my bangs" culture

Anyway, I might of mentioned this elsewhere but I'm a huge fan or I guess more "serious" stuff that is somewhat related to this recent epidemic of Mumfordsarcoma; like Joe Buck Yourself, Those Poor Bastards, Johnny Flynn, Band of Horses, Mason Jennings, Avett Brothers, etc...

What about bands that straddle this fence between earnest folk/alt-country expressions and indie/emo/pop stuff like First Aid Kit, Tallest Man on Earth, Fleet Foxes, Bowerbirds, etc?

If you hate all this kind of stuff (Edward III!) you can go ahead and not engage with this line of inquiry. TIA!

Also, in a very rare occurence: some dude OTM.

Stomp! Clap!

Visiting my partner's childhood friend in Vancouver, she put on a YouTube playlist as background music while we were chatting, and the music was so egregiously godawful I had to stifle laughter at times. I was so transported by the experience that I checked what it was - a Lumineers mix, of course.

they sell out the 8000-cap shed in my town faster than just about anyone else. crazy.

I know a few people who retired from going out because of kids while stomp clap hey was still in ascendancy. Lawn seats with the kids at a Lumineers show is probably a pretty good family night.

if you want your kids to grow up hating you, sure

this band still sucks, they're playing a 75,000-seat football stadium out here in Denver this summer. good luck usa.

“Family — cookin in the kitchen”
as a full on lifestyle 🤮

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKVOeQICi1A

lmao