The Lumineers

Dualtone, 2012

The Lumineers specialize in acoustic heartache/heartbreak balladry in mixed varieties.  This Denver based trio plays a folky Americana with mixed results.

Opening number “Flowers in Your Hair,” sounds like a passable impression of a Dylan-ish song about young love, maturity, and yearning. It almost sounds like someone aping Dylan who’s only ever heard other people perform Dylan.

“Classy Girls” is an upbeat foot-stomper of a song, but feels a bit amateurish with its lyrics and delivery. “Flapper Girl: is a bit of fun which properly evokes prohibition and speakeasies as the title insists it should.

“Submarines” relates a boy telling local officials he saw a Japanese submarine off the East coast and no one believes him. It’s one of the more memorable tracks, and feels as though it comes from a broadway show.

“Ho Hey” is trite annoying, tiresome and should be immediately catchy, but is the sort of song that’ll make you skip ahead. “I belong with you/You belong with Me,” the sort of thing we’ve heard way too many times, done better by nearly everyone else.

“Dead Sea” works better than much of the other material. The same goes for “Stubborn Love.” Optimism pushes desperate desires aside and they sound like confident men, ready to take on the world, not like a bunch of lovesick boys.

“Slow it Down” aches with real raw emotion and makes the listener want more. The pain on display is palpable, and can’t be ignored. “I never, she never, we never looked back/ That wasn’t what we were good at/ And when it came to love/ We were not good enough.”

It’s here in the center of the disc that The Lumineers reveal their strongest hand. This is Where they sound sincere, collected and secure. They should follow these instincts more often. It will allow them to pull away from the vast pack of bearded young men singing plaintively about all the same things.