(In order to go easy on internet browsers, this will be broken into four parts)
Part One
44) Adam Arcuragi - Oh I See
Gospel-infused folk that manages to build to a spiritual crescendo. Having never heard of the guy before this year, I can't wait to see where he goes from here.
43) Yuna - Someone Out of Town
Brooding and haunting, this is one of my favorite chill songs of the year. Reminds me of that one Imogen Heap song.
42) Lightships - Sweetness is Her Spark
I was likely to enjoy anything by a former member of Teenage Fanclub. Airy pretty guitars will get me every time.
First, a step back (warning: this will be a digression. Any "just tell me what the band sounds like" proponents should skip this paragraph). One thing that is becoming increasingly clear to me as I continue to listen to a half dozen new albums each week is how hard it is to actually determine what is good and bad. The myth of the internet is that a lack of borders should create a meritocracy. However, what really happens is that the infinitude of choices only muddies the water. There are more bands than ever due to less barriers to entry in music creation, and the technology means that these bands are only a couple clicks away. This means you can hear a lot of music that sounds incredibly alike. If it's a sound you like, but only in moderation (variety being the spice of life and all), how do you determine which of these similar sounding bands is worth your time and which aren't?
This brings us to the Lumineers, who are either going to be the Next Big Thing in indie-folk, or yet another thing in indie-folk. This debut album contains some very strong songs, but it's another in a long line of indie-folk groups. Unlike someone like Of Monsters and Men, the Lumineers are pretty firmly on the folk side of the indie-folk spectrum, and as such they pretty strongly recall groups like The Head and the Heart and the Avett Brothers (and Mumford; you can't have a -folk group and not compare them to Mumford). There's also a couple tracks (the strongest, in my opinion) that sound very similar to Heartbreaker-era Ryan Adams (one of the stronger Ryan Adams eras, in my opinion). As I said before, I really like a lot of these songs, and I think their lead singer has a strong, confident voice, but I'm a little indie-folk fatigued. Should I hold that against these guys? Anyway, if you're a big folk fan, or at least a fan still riding the wave, you should definitely check out this group.
