Pitchfork pans the Head and the Heart

The Head and the Heart’s debut album finally saw its re-release via Sub Pop Record Saturday and the tastemaking, indie-cred certified, hipster folks at Pitchfork posted a review of the record this morning.

So what does the pillar of coolness that is Pitchfork think of Seattle’s favorite Ballard folksters? Well, if the score of 3.8 out of 10 is any indication of P4K’s feelings toward THATH then it isn’t likely they’ll be getting invited to play next year’s Pitchfork Festival.

In the review by Stephen M. Deusner Pitchfork more or less destroys the Head and the Heart, which is a shame because the album is good and it deserved a better score than what Deusner decided upon. Some selections from the review:

… The Head and the Heart is a lackluster mélange of vaguely old-time instrumentation, wan gospel harmonies, and heart-always-on-sleeve songwriting.

The band’s name is intended to emphasize both emotion and intellect, yet so many of these songs fall flat in both aspects.

Musically, the band’s old-time approximations resemble the Avett Brothers, but, without that group’s effortless harmonizing, easy melodicism, and demonstrative vocals, the Head and the Heart sound anonymous, their drama wholly predictable. Conceptually, they’re close to Mumford & Sons: opportunistic in their borrowings, yet entirely unimaginative in the execution. Theirs is a thoroughly timid, tentative take on Americana: roots music without the roots.

Talk about spitting venom.

Even when the Deusner attempts to point out the merits of THATH he ends up slamming the band making a not-so-cool Coldplay comparison, which is like a silver bullet to the heart of any band’s indie cred. While THATH doesn’t seem like a band hellbent on indie cred, the slam still has to hurt. Deusner writes:

… it’s Kenny Hensley’s piano that distinguishes the band and broadens their palette, for better or worse. He injects some much-needed pomp into “Ghosts” and “Heaven Go Easy on Me”, goosing these songs out of their tasteful torpor. On the other hand, he constantly falls back on the tactic of repeating chords to convey general drama, which recalls Coldplay more than Tin Pan Alley.

The most interesting jab Deusner gets in is one challenging the band’s authenticity which could also be seen as a swipe at the band’s sincerity, something that has been a topic of great debate here in Seattle. Deusner says some of the group’s “nods to history and to hard labor are meant to give this album the sheen of authenticity, but it doesn’t take long to see through to the calculation beneath.”

So what does a bad review in a major publication mean to the burgeoning career of one of Seattle best and brightest new bands? Well, in my opinion it doesn’t really mean much. THATH is a band that comes across much better live than on record and when an overhyped and arguably unnecessary and extremely self-important website like Pitchfork (which writes reviews like this one) pans your album I say it’s more of a badge of honor than it is a mark of shame that will mar future album sales.