The Lumineers – Automatic

Folk Rock

55%

 

I’ve been a staunch defender of The Lumineers for some time now. The public’s attitude towards 2010s indie folk seems to ebb and flow like the tide, but even when people are riding high on a surge of nostalgia, The Lumineers always play second fiddle to other acts of the time. At low points they’re looked down on as a cheesy one-hit-wonder. I’ve always maintained that they’re better than people give them credit for; a good chunk of their career saw them consistently exceeding my expectations. Their debut had more to it than just ‘Ho Hey’, there were a lot of other great stomp and holler moments in there worth your time. Cleopatra really saw the band up their game and to this day is home to their best songs. Most surprising of all was their 2019 concept album III. This ambitious triptych, weaving tales of addiction and generational trauma, frankly had no right to be as superb as it was.  

However, upon entering the 2020s, it felt like the band’s luck began to run out, with the austere and uninspired Brightside breaking their streak. Though I’d kept my fingers crossed that it was a mere bump in the road, this latest release instead seems to double down on all the failings of its predecessor. Automatic just feels empty by every metric. In the most literal and noticeable aspect, the arrangements are sparse and uninteresting. Just the most simple piano melodies and acoustic strumming they could be bothered to muster. What’s worse is that every time you can easy picture a better, more fleshed out version of the song existing, as though they’ve uploaded a demo mix with half the song missing. There’s so much empty space and unfulfilled potential, and it all soon becomes a homogenic mess. By the time I got to (the ironically titled) ‘You’re All I Got’, I was already starting to think “I’m sure I’ve heard this same basic song already”. The record does start to wake up a little in the latter half – the ending of ‘Ativan’ plays with some Beatles inspired whimsy, brief interlude ‘Sunflowers’ has a fair bit of charm, and closing track ‘So Long’ brings some welcome understated strings into the mix – but by this point, it’s too little too late.

That’s not to say sparse and simple equates to bad; some of the most beautiful songs ever written are little more than vocals, the instrumentation a mere whisper on the wind. The difference is, they have more to offer beyond instrumentation. The songwriting here is a lacklustre affair across the board. Brightside at least had a couple of memorable hooks that could shine in a live setting and get people singing, but there’s not a single chorus here that feels like it would elicit that kind of reaction. The album’s only upbeat offering (the once again ironically titled) ‘Same Old Song’ makes a good go of it, but still misses the mark. It’s a major misstep for a band who’s most enduring legacy is singalong choruses. There isn’t even much of a deeper message at work that warrants a move away from arena ready hooks. Whatever message the band are trying to articulate about modern society falls flat by either being very shallow and surface level, or an abstract stream of consciousness that only makes any real sense within their own heads.

While most people’s mental image of The Lumineers is probably that of a big group of hipsters singing and clapping around a campfire, the reality is that the band has revolved around the central duo of Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites. Much of the vigour of their live shows comes from touring musicians. These last couple of records feel like they were written by the duo alone in a room somewhere, just crafting the bare bones of songs, and relying on the other musicians around them to later on add the fun and enthusiasm that is otherwise lacking in the studio recordings. At this point Schultz and Fraites desperately need to open up to collaborating with more songwriters and musicians right from the early stages, get their touring band into the studio to add energy and fresh ideas into the mix, because the pair are stuck in a rut. The fact that the music video for ‘Same Old Song’ features prominent use of generative AI really feels like the final nail in the coffin, as well as a perfect analogy for Automatic as a whole: completely creatively bankrupt.