If you watched the Super Bowl commercials, have a television with standard channels, XM radio, or a regular radio for that matter, you've definitely heard American Authors' breakout hit "Best Day of My Life." You'd think that the song's widespread and mainstream popularly would be a tough act to follow. But the Brooklyn quartet is finding no trouble riding the wave of success, introducing a gem of a track that you can instantly get when you pre-order their forthcoming album, Oh, What a Life. "Trouble" is a beautiful banjo-led production that carves out a space for them in the very crowded knee-slapping, toe-tapping territory that is folk pop.
It has the building drama of a Mumford and Sons song, with "Hey Ho" harmonic vocals a la The Lumineers and the upbeat counting and swingy cadence of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros' "Home." I'm aware I just compared these guys to ever major act out there, but they really are the real deal and the sum of the [good] parts. This track feels like the days of courting and cornfields reborn in 2014 and we're glad to be taken back to simpler times. So if like Paula Cole, you're wondering "where have all the cowboys gone?" Well, ladies and gents – they're right here. Only they're wearing skinny jeans these days and hailing from NYC's outer boroughs.
TL;DR: this song will be a hit. Enjoy it in it's first fresh week before it's making the rounds on syndicated airwaves & your little sister's surround sound.
And if you like what you hear here, be sure and score the band's debut album Oh, What a Life, out on March 4 via Island Records.
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