Folk-rock band The Lumineers have been quiet up until now. After we were denied a tour of their 2019 album III they instead set to work on something different. Blues meets folk, meets country with a bit of Americana thrown in on their brand new album Brightside. This is their first album in two years and it was well worth the wait.
The first and title track, ‘Brightside’ really sets up the rest of the album. It’s a poetic love song about couples being together on the road and it’s full of driving energy and could be seen as a hitchhiking melody. It’s about how we are saved purely through our devotion to one another. Schultz uses a fuzz effect on the guitar which adds to the overall sound as it gives it that more whimsical feel making the song seem a little giddy and off-balanced.
This is then countered by ‘A.M. RADIO’ which was released as a single and features only delicate acoustic guitar, soft piano chords and Schultz vocals and that’s it. It’s all about the almost supernatural force and pull of a calling in life and how we are responsible for who we’re meant to be.This song features one of the biggest choruses the band have ever performed and it’s euphoric and triumphant – this is a seriously powerful song.
‘Where We Are’ follows and it feels like a throwback to their earlier days. It was inspired by a nearly fatal car crash involving both Schultz and his girlfriend Brandy and it’s all about gratitude for just being alive. It’s easy to dwell on the fact you could have passed, they instead flipped it on its head and wrote about how great it is to be alive which is extremely uplifting. The instrumentation flows throughout the track whilst the vocals cry out full of emotion.
‘Big Shot’ is a relatable track about humanity. Schultz said in an interview that he wrote this song with the idea that we’re all big shots in our own stories. The moody vocals and gentle piano really give the song that melancholy feel that really rounds off this track nicely.
Anyone listening to this album would probably be hoping to hear more of the piano at this point in the record and The Lumineers certainly deliver on ‘Rollercoaster.’ It starts off gentle to mimic the vocals but builds into rich rounded piano chords driving the song forward – the addition of the acoustic guitar pairs perfectly. Then we are given ‘Remington’, with a pulse-like beat, mellow guitar lines and stirring vocals. It speaks to the broken but hopeful.
‘Reprise’ is the final track and brings the album full circle. It references the first track Brightside making the album feel more like a concept without the listener knowing. It’s almost like they’ve thrown in a twist at the end of the movie that’s changed everything. The album closes nicely with this track bringing it all together.
This collection of songs is poetically beautiful and hopeful however it has a hint of melancholy running throughout. The Lumineers defined their signature sound on their previous albums such as Cleopatra and their self-titled LP and this latest offering shows how they’ve mastered their craft and only built on it.
Words By Louis Suffill
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