Citing inspiration from David Bowie and Tom Petty, The Lumineers promised “BRIGHTSIDE” would be a rock album with the depth and storytelling fans have grown to love since their first album’s release in 2012.
Instead, “BRIGHTSIDE” is an embarrassing attempt to capitalize off of the fading success of previous albums, such as “Cleopatra” and “III.”
I am a die-hard Lumineers fan. I have seen them in concert twice and traveled hours out of town to do so. I proudly wear my “Cleopatra” tour T-shirt and am quick to play their songs for anyone who will listen. I laughed off my mom’s comments at 13 when she said they were contrived and I can honestly say listening to their music in high school is my fondest memory of adolescence.
I was excited to hear a slight genre shift in the singles leading up to the album, but when the full version was released, I was disappointed.
Upon my first listen, I could guess the lyrics to each song. “Love was not designed for time,” lead singer Wesley Schultz croons in “NEVER REALLY MINE.” The follow-up? “You were never really mine.” Those lyrics are repeated throughout the three-minute song, with little substance in-between.
Contrasted with the heart-wrenching lyricism of early songs such as “Stubborn Love“: “It’s better to feel pain than nothing at all. The opposite of love is indifference,” the hollow rhymes and cliché lines of “BRIGHTSIDE” are disappointing at best.
The band received a reputation for impeccable storytelling from individual songs such as “Submarines“. This was later translated into entire-album story arches and films created for “Cleopatra” and later “III.” But, this storytelling is lost in “BRIGHTSIDE”.
The album markets itself as an exploration of love through loss, but the band’s success has distanced them so much from their home-grown Denver, Colo. roots that any attempt at relating to poverty feels hollow and contrived.
The music video for the album’s title track features working-class or impoverished Americans in various states of love and loss. Whether they’re acting or telling their own stories is up to the viewer’s interpretation.
The video’s focus on the working class, while seemingly honourable for the band and on-brand for its creative direction, feels out-of-touch after the band’s success. The focus on the sadness of these working-class individuals smells slightly of “inspiration porn,” and seems hypocritical while the band profits off of their stories by playing sold-out stadiums and selling T-shirts for $40 USD.
With only nine songs, “BRIGHTSIDE” is the shortest album the band has ever released. While quality should be prioritized over quantity, it doesn’t even seem that quality was a focus in creating this album. It feels as if the band wanted to release an album for the sake of releasing an album and simply did not have it in themselves to produce the work they’re known for.
The band clearly has not recovered from the 2018 exodus of their cellist, Neyla Pekarek. Since she left, it has felt as if the band is simply trying to create music as a way to build a brand and sell merchandise.
Instead of providing the long-awaited reprieve from the pandemic fans needed, The Lumineers provided a tale of capitalist greed—complete with four colours of vinyl to collect, bucket hats and a brand new logo.
Featured image via The Lumineers/Dualtone Music Group.
