Family of the Year: ‘Let Her Go’ review

What I Know:
Indie four-piece Family of the Year are just one of the fantastic, yet criminally underrated acts that hail from the Nettwerk Music Group (others being Father John Misty, The Weepies, Alexi Murdoch, The Bamboos, Ghost Beach, Radical Face, Madi Diaz, Nneka… I could go on).

If you know them already it’s probably because you, like me, heard their song – nay, masterpiece – Hero featured prominently on the equally masterpiecal (not a proper word but should be) 2014 Richard Linklater film Boyhood.

Now in their ninth year, the band have previously released three albums, including breakout success, Loma Vista, from which Hero came.

What I Like:
I mentioned at the top that I’ve a been a bit starved of ‘proper’ words this week; fortunately Let Her Go is like the deluge after the drought.

As a lyric, it’s perfectly pitched; inasmuch as it’s dripping in sentimentality and deeper meanings, while simultaneously being vague enough to allow space for interpretation.

But where that becomes a potent tool is when you have the melodic chops that Family of the Year possess in spades. It’s like every single line could be another glorious, tear-inducing hook, every ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ a signal to sing along.

Of course, the chorus is most gorgeous of all. “I need a little more love, I need a little more time” begs singer, Joseph Keefe. Take all the time you need, mate. I could listen to this stuff all day.

The thing is this; I know I’m being hoodwinked into liking a ‘Pop song’. I know it. Just because there’s four of them and they all actually play their instruments and I’m in no way tempted to text me mates, telling them which one of the band I fancy the most (it’s definitely the girl, by the way), it doesn’t disguise the fact that this is pure chart fodder.

They even bloody sign-post it by putting in an X Factor-friendly key change for the final chorus (which did make me a little bit sick in my mouth) and yet I love it all the same.

I feel like that doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement of this track but, believe me, I wouldn’t have included it and admitted all the stuff above (including the bit about the girl) if I didn’t absolutely love the bones of this song.

The album from which it comes, Goodbye Sunshine, Hello Nighttime was released last week.

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