The Lumineers- Automatic
Label: Dualtone
Producers: The Lumineers, David Baron, Simone Felice
The fifth long-player from The Lumineers arrives a little more than a dozen years removed from their unassuming breakthrough to superstar status via the now-iconic 2012 smash, “Ho Hey”. They arrived on the scene at the perfect time, when required credentials for modern rock superstardom were suddenly defined by the sounds of scrappy folk-rock troubadour bands like themselves, Mumford & Sons, and The Avett Brothers, who in the previous decade were seemingly permanently cast to the underground worlds of Americana and indie-rock. Since those early halcyon days, the now-duo of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites have been able to maintain their headlining status within the rock and folk spheres, without having to sacrifice their organic roots-based sound or artistic integrity for the sake of public relevance.
Automatic follows in the footsteps of its 2022 predecessor, Brightside, reuniting the pair with producer David Baron, who led them to their most simplistic production to date after the audacious narratives of 2019’s concept record, III. This record doesn’t really live up to its title in the sense that it does not automatically grab the listener in an immediately captivating or accessible way, but rather is a release that grows impressively more substantive and satisfying on repeat listeners. Now, it may seem naive to expect an indie-folk-rock band like the Lumineers to be “accessible” in the way that’s usually expected from mainstream pop stars, but make no mistake that “Ho Hey” became the smash it did because of how unsuspectingly it tapped into the basic concepts of pop contagion. This special mainstream sauce remained present on follow-up efforts like “Ophelia” and “Gloria”, with its dark overtones being subverted by the now-infamous stomp and clap infection of 2010s folk-pop. The closest thing to a “banger” of that sort here is lead single and opening track “Same Old Song”, an initially disappointing release with a title that seemed cursed in suggesting that perhaps the creative well of the Lumineers had run dry. But then comes the swerve of “Asshole”, the kind of sardonic stab at romance that you’d expect a band like Dawes to deliver, and on Valentine’s Day no less. It sets the stage for the rest of the record’s part-quirky, mostly-reflective, completely gorgeous remainder that finds the band reckoning with the mess that is pretty much everything in the 2020s.
As already mentioned, Baron’s stripped production and the pair’s increasingly-plaintive lyrics on these songs require several listens to completely immerse yourself in, but rest assured that a gorgeously intimate emotional impact awaits. (Schultz’s lead vocals remain among the most vibrantly resonant in all of music.) Brightside always felt a bit incomplete, almost like a demo, as if Baron and the band were trying too deliberately to distance themselves from the weighty arrangements and themes of III. Automatic, despite being recorded in a mere fraction of the time it took to create Brightside, feels like the more wholly-realized collaboration. It strikes a desirable balance that remains steadfast in a simpler soundscape, but without forgoing the meaty subjects and haunting emotions of the band’s compositions and vocals. Quite simply, this record re-centers The Lumineers back to the stirring sweet-spot that gave them the longevity they achieved once all the (well-deserved) “Ho Hey” buzz inevitably wore off.
Track Listing:
- “Same Old Song” (Wesley Schultz, Jeremiah Fraites)
- “Asshole” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “Strings” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “Automatic” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “You’re All I Got” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “Plasticine” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “Ativan” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “Keys on the Table” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “Better Day” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “Sunflowers” (Schultz, Fraites)
- “So Long” (Schultz, Fraites)
The 706 
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