CD REVIEW: THE RUMINATERS – I USED TO HATE THE RUMINATERS, NOW I LIKE THEM

CD REVIEW: THE RUMINATERS – I USED TO HATE THE RUMINATERS, NOW I LIKE THEM
The Sunball Machine
November 2016
Reviewed by Shane & Tia Pinnegar
6/10

I can honestly say I have never hated The Ruminaters – but I can’t say I particularly like them either. This reviewer being a moshpit-scarred veteran of a thousand rock and metal wars, the indie-pop-with-a-wistful-hipster-folkieness of The Ruminators has little or no resonance with me, regardless of how well-crafted it is.

Accordingly, it seems only fair to handball this one to my nine-and-a-half year old daughter, to whom modern pop music is far more of a touchstone.

Tia’s verdict is, “it’s okay… just okay,” and therein lies the problem with The Ruminaters: they’re trying too hard to craft wilfully weird indie folk pop, whilst keeping one eye firmly on mass appeal – and the two never go hand in hand by design.

There is undoubtedly a niche for them – and I daresay they and their fans will write off our review as being written by people ‘out of touch’ with their generation (“maaaaaan”), and that may well be true – Tame Impala’s tired fuzz stomp retread fell on a global audience of hipsters too young and self-indulgent to be aware of the real thing, so there’s every chance that The Ruminaters do the same.

More power to them – but they have nothing for me, just as I have nothing for them.

Category: CD Reviews