The Lumineers excellently produce what I would call “road trip music,” and their fourth album, BRIGHTSIDE, is no different. Released on Jan. 14, it showcases nine songs that touch on love, heartbreak, loneliness, and hope. I can picture myself listening to this album on the highway, windows rolled down, reflecting on memories, dreaming of something just out of my reach.
The Lumineers, which consists of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites, has produced past hits such as “Ho Hey” and “Ophelia,” and their latest album features the same raw energy of Schultz’s vocals and simple instruments. The songs have verses that tell stories, unearthing lyrics that remind me of Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Evermore albums, and choruses that are more catchy and repetitive.
Their title track showcases that blend of storytelling and repetition. With lyrics like, “Every word was like a smoke from a cigarette / You were blowin’ in your hands / The heater broke in the Oldsmobile,” you really get a sense of The Lumineers’ lyrical strength. The chorus, in comparison, repeats a single phrase: “I’ll be your brightside, baby, tonight.” The contrast between chorus and verse, which reflects many of the songs on this album, represents the contrast between pain and hope.
In an interview with Atwood Magazine, Schultz spoke about these themes of the album and the motivation behind it. “There is this insane trauma that is happening around the world that no one is getting out of it unscathed,” he said. “At the same time, there is also this weird hope within all of us right now, this need to breathe and how we’ll do anything for that next breath… We were trying to strike that chord of the balance between destruction and pain along with hope.”
Schultz also described the process of creating BRIGHTSIDE as “wilder” than previous albums, with more spontaneous, immediate music. I felt this immediacy in the song “ROLLERCOASTER.” It has a quieter energy and a piano focus. I could actually hear the fingers tapping on the keyboard, the keys moving up and down. It made the music feel like it was playing right in my own living room, with Fraites sitting down at a piano and practicing his music.
While I enjoyed BRIGHTSIDE, the songs didn’t feel quite as powerful or memorable as their previous music. Some of their songs were too repetitive or didn’t quite reach where they were trying to go. “REMINGTON,” for example, is just under two minutes, but felt like it was just beginning when it came to the end. In fact, the entire album, which is only 30 minutes long, is their shortest album yet.
I’ve been trying to articulate the feeling of the BRIGHTSIDE album. It’s inexplicably sad, yet equally optimistic. The word I keep coming back to is nostalgic. It feels like Schultz has all these things that keep slipping out of his reach, like he’s reaching into the past to explain how he’s feeling. BRIGHTSIDE is equally comforting and uncertain.
Danaye studies English and procrastination at UFV and is very passionate about the Oxford comma. She spends her days walking to campus from the free parking zones, writing novels she'll never finish, and pretending to know how to pronounce abominable. Once she graduates, she plans to adopt a cat.
