Lost Cause Lover Fool The Milk Carton Kids

• 1 Blue Water 03:08
• 2 My Place Among the Stones 02:54
• 3 A Friend Like You 06:07
• 4 I'll Go Home From Here 03:52
• 5 Lost Cause Lover Fool 04:59
• 6 Blinded and Smiling 03:01
• 7 Sad Song 03:41
• 8 Ribbon 03:57
• 9 Young Love 03:03
• 10 Making A Fool Of Myself 03:58
• Total Runtime 38:40

Info for Lost Cause Lover Fool

On their seventh studio album, Lost Cause Lover Fool, The Milk Carton Kids deliver 9 songs that, more than ever, invite listeners to lean in close and hover in the small moments the album magnifies.

Much has changed since The Milk Carton Kids — Los Angeles-based singer-songwriters Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan — burst on the Folk scene in 2011. And The Milk Carton Kids have changed too. But at least one constant remains. Pattengale and Ryan continue to make music that entices us turn down the volume on a chaotic world and dwell as long as possible on what matters most.

With rootsy arrangements, Lost Cause Lover Fool expands on the duo’s signature minimalist sound their fans love while also, somehow, making it even smaller. Lost Cause Lover Fool begins with the lonesome pluck and strum of the banjo on “Blue Water.” Often employed either for lightning-speed or rhythm, here the banjo is handled carefully, with reticence, so that it feels more like light cast across a stretch of grass than a whole bluegrass instrument. Lyrically, this album-opener zooms in on a snapshot of a man walking along a riverside, remembering the child that used to lay on his chest who has now grown to share his worried mind. It’s a moment so small it might easily have been dismissed, except that it holds an emotion as universal as it is fleeting.

Lost Cause Lover Fool magnifies many such small moments, turns them into mesmerizing worlds, and reminds us — pleads with us — to pay attention to them as they go by.

The Milk Carton Kids

The Milk Carton Kids are a contemporary folk duo from Los Angeles, California. Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan formed the group in early 2011, shelving their solo careers in favor of a collaborative project that focused on harmonized vocals, entwined acoustic guitars, and rootsy songwriting. From the very beginning, the Milk Carton Kids worked fast, releasing a live album (Retrospect) in March 2011 and returning three months later with their full-length studio debut, Prologue. Both recordings were released for free via the band's website. The guys toured heavily, too, pulling double duty as Joe Purdy's opening act and backing band during a spring 2011 tour before launching a headlining tour of their own after Prologue's release.

Despite earning comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel, the Civil Wars, and the Everly Brothers, the Milk Carton Kids' minimalist, down-home material had more in common with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings' duets. As a result, Pattengale and Ryan smartly marketed themselves to the Americana crowd. After closing out 2011 with a performance on NPR's roots rock concert program, Mountain Stage, the two spent most of 2012 on the road with other folksy acts, including Old Crow Medicine Show and the Lumineers.

This album contains no booklet.