August 9, 2011

Album Review: The Head And The Heart - 'The Head And The Heart'

Deeply lacking any conviction

4 / 10 The Head And The Heart have a heartwarming word-of-mouth success story that’s actually quite boring and yet still by far the most interesting thing about them. You can’t pick a fault with their none-more-Canadian folky indie rock, but you wouldn’t pick it to be on your team either.

“I wish I was a slave to an age-old trade”, bleats singer Josiah Johnson Mumford-ishly on ‘Down In The Valley’, before compounding that clanger by braying on about “whiskey rivers” over limp Arcade Fire-isms. Faux authenticity is one thing, but it isn’t even done with any conviction; the ‘whoop’ on ‘Ghosts’ counts among the least convincing we’ve ever heard.

Duncan Gillespie

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