The Lumineers

The Lumineers make the kind of life-affirming folk music that many bands aspire for, but few actually pull off. Their best track, “Ho Hey” is a perfectly crafted foot-stomper, literally demanding a group singalong – on tour, the crowd will surely “ho!” and “hey!” along with the band after every four drum beats. Lead singer Wesley Schultz’s voice, paired with the rickety drums and piano accompanying most songs, gives the band’s music a raw, unfiltered feel – a genuine passion that shines through due to the minimal production. They show off the infectious nature of their music in a “Take-Away Show”-style, microphone-free, one-take video of this great track:

So far, the band has only produced two self-released EPs, but that’s about to change on April 3, when their self-titled album will be released on Dualtone. Hopefully, extra production value will not take away from The Lumineers’ whole-hearted sound, and I’m guessing it won’t. One of the album’s mixers, Kevin Augunas, knows a thing or two about working with raw, foot-stomping soulful bands – he’s worked on albums from the Cold War Kids and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes.

I’m expecting The Lumineers to build on their low-key sound with more instrumentation and more peaks and valleys to their songs, creating folk epics in the vein of The Head And The Heart. Why do I see a potential Head and the Heart influence? The passion from both bands is practically gushing out of this video where they lead an intimate “Skinny Love” singalong together at a house show.

Check out The Lumineers at their website and on Facebook.

Download their album preview full of demos courtesy of Paste, for free: