“Rather than flattening the song into something dull and pretty, as legions of acoustic guitar players on YouTube inevitably do, this group engages with the song and reveals a new side of the original recording. They turn the soaring ooh-ooh-oohs into the emotional center of their performance, shifting focus away from James Mercer’s melancholy lyrics to make the song jubilant and vivacious.
…
“If their sin is laying it on too thick, or letting their nervous, amateur enthusiasm show through too strongly, that’s okay with me. That’s why I watch these videos. Because this excursion into the depths of YouTube isn’t really about music. It’s about hundreds of tiny, hidden stories about human peculiarity, floating just below the level of common awareness.”
(via Bygone Bureau)
