1. AdamL.

   10

   Best album of 2009. Amazing, raw, beautiful. So good. This album honestly blows me away every time I hear it.

   • Helpful? 2 of 2 users said Yes.
2. TimJ

   8

   What's wrong with the folks at Pitchfork? I don't think I've ever read a more shallow review of a record. For instance, how does "Fleet Foxes style harmonies" register as a negative quality? That is one of many things about that review that boggles my mind. I think their disdain for it has far more to do with it's popularity (and the way they like to disdain popular things) than it does with the quality of music making on the record.… Expand

   • Helpful? 1 of 2 users said Yes.
3. paulwilsonlogic

   7

   Well enchained melodies constituted this record of Mr. Mumford and his sons. A dramatic air of country, bluegrass, folk and even celta is breathed with gladness, though I would say the first half of the record owns the best aroma, in particular the track "I gave you all", with an expectant intro and stunning ending. Mr. Mumford's voice is like a ring to the finger. It wears perfectly to the banjo, mandolin, piano and well-stationed lyrics. A record that deserves to be listened to.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
4. RoverJones

   3

   I'm sorry but I've gotta go along with Pitchfork on this one. It has one song that sticks, I guess for lyrical/personal/whatever reasons. ("I Gave You All." I freakin' love that song.) But the aesthetic from one song to the next is *identical.*
   
   I'm not saying that they don't have a certain knack for building up the tempo to a cacophony and letting Marcus Mumford's voice ride the instruments like a wave. They're not half bad at it. But they aren't exactly the best there's ever been, yet they do it on EVERY SONG. On a contemporary level, Arcade Fire and The Decemberists easily have them beat at that. What makes those bands as good as they are (or great, in Arcade Fire's case) is that they don't copy this formula on every song. They show off their wealth of other talents.
   
   When you can do something pretty-well-but-not-great, as M&S do with their folk anthemic climaxes, you should think about switching it up and writing a new song once in a while. And P4k, I'm sad to say, is spot on. When every song has the exact same formula, the album as a whole starts to sound disingenuous and I become totally disconnected with it. Imagine if Fleet Foxes had used the wordless chorus-double verse-A Capella 3-4-part harmonies on EVERY song on Sun Giant as they did with Mykonos. It would've been horrible, and a real slight to the genre of folk rock.
   
   I'm not going to say that this isn't a good band. (Yet.) If they could chill on the soft-loud formula like some sort of folk rock Nirvana, maybe use it on one or two songs in an album, and use the rest of the space for--I dunno--something else, I can hear what they're made of.… Expand

   • Helpful? 6 of 7 users said Yes.

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