Bands go on hiatuses. It can be years between albums – years dappled with only single-song stints on movie soundtracks and sporadic Instagram posts declaring, “We”re back in the studio.”
Lyndsie Kiebert
Rawr
I often savor the delay between albums, using the time to truly appreciate the music made in the past. I thrive on the anticipation of new tunes. However, this anticipation can only last so long in most cases, and at about the three-year mark, waiting around for a band to release a new album starts to get old.
Unless that band is The Lumineers – then all is forgiven.
It is hard to believe that these folk-rockers” self-titled and first album came out when I was just a sophomore in high school. I can remember being 16 years old, hearing “Stubborn Love” for the first time and vowing to get the lines “It”s better to feel pain than nothing at all / The opposite of love is indifference” tattooed on my back. Melodramatic as it seems now, the album is still in my top 10 of all time.
Now, at 20 years old, I”ve spent one-fifth of my life waiting for the day The Lumineers release some more magnificence into the indie-folk music scene.
Thankfully, that day will be April 8, and if the first single off the new album is any indication, The Lumineers” sophomore album won”t disappoint.
“Ophelia,” the first single, showcases Wesley Schultz”s vocals with the veracity as the “Slow It Down,” and yet the tune is an upbeat foot-stomper. The piano riffs are reminiscent of the band”s first album, the ever-present tambourine makes an appearance, and yet there”s something new going on here. There is maturity in the band”s sound – a sureness that wasn”t there four years ago.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Schultz explained the meaning behind “Ophelia,” saying it”s a reference to falling in love with fame.
“You”re just shiny, bright and new to people for a quick moment – and then you have the rest of your life to live,” Schultz said. “It”s about caring so much about the people around me, and wondering if we”re all going to be alright.”
That”s the thing about The Lumineers that I think has kept me hooked on the first album for so many years – these musicians are storytellers. Whether it”s about flapper girls, a boy named Charlie, a parade, or a guy just trying to hit on a classy girl in a bar by showing her his half-dollar ring, the band”s lyrics hook the listener with stories accompanied by beautiful music. It”s simple, and yet so rarely done nowadays.
The new album”s title track, “Cleopatra,” is about a female cab driver Schultz and his wife met in the Republic of Georgia.
“She”ll pick you up at the airport with a cigarette hanging out her mouth and a beer can between (her) legs,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “She has a willingness to confront life.”
This story and many more are sure to hook me on the new album just as they did the last, and I am ecstatic.
After four years, I”m ready to fall in love with this band all over again.
Lyndsie Kiebert can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lyndsie_kiebert