The Lumineers Fourth album: BRIGHTSIDE  

Brightside is Lumineer’s fourth album throughout their whole career was released on January 14th of this year. I think that this is going to be a good album based on other work I’ve seen by The Lumineers themselves. 

In recent weeks, the Lumineers have released a new album titled, “Brightside”. As the album starts listeners first hear “Brightside” which is also the title track and also a song. This band is usually known for its alternative and indie music. As the song starts, there’s an awesome-sounding guitar riff. Then Wesley Schultz, vocalist of the group, starts singing, and it’s in a harsh or serious tone. Throughout this song, listeners learn there is a love interest involved but not really since it’s just a feeling from having too many drugs. As the song continues, the feeling of these drugs is more described to make a person feel a bit more heightened in their senses, self-awareness. 

Secondly is, “A.M Radio”. The duo was talking at the beginning of the song but I couldn’t tell what they were saying since they were mumbling. About a minute into the song, it gives off shoegaze and indie-folk vibes because of the tone that the singer was using. It’s quite calming to listen to, even if it’s a bit high-pitched. One of my personal favorites from this album. As listeners closely examined the lyrics and tone of the overall song, Listeners learn that the meaning of this song is to follow your dreams even through the hardships that you have to face to be successful.  

The third song is, “Where We Are.”The song starts loud. It feels like the song is echoey in the background until it calms down a bit. The singer is saying how he isn’t sure where he is, but he’s sure that everything will be alright and will figure out where he is eventually. It ends on a calm note and it’s fitting to the song in a way because it fades out which is bound to make a perfect ending. It creates a perfect ending since it closes it off nicely. Next on our list is “Birthday”. It is such a calming start and it stays that way based on the instruments that are being used in this song. This song is perfect, another favorite song from this album. The overall meaning as I listened more closely was that life is not always gonna be great but we, as humans, will get back on track someday. Overall, this song produces such a calm and happy feeling because it’s supposed to be similar to happy birthday.  It gets louder around the three-minute mark, it startled me. It fades out again to start another song on this album called “Big Shot.” It starts very calmly with a  mandolin. Either way, it would be amazing. It sounds calming but also appears sad based on the lyrics that are being said. The song is so humble because of the lyrics and I like the type of feel like that, totally the indie-folk feeling, I wasn’t expecting from this song since it doesn’t come off well in their other songs in this album. The meaning of the song is that times may be sad now but they will eventually get better, by becoming a different person so that you can move forward however you would like to in your life. It’s also about getting better as a person just for yourself or other people around you.

The sixth song is “Never Really Mine”. This song is also calm and peaceful, I like this one a lot as it begins. As the lyrics are being said the meaning is also being said at such an early time but that’s ok because the lyrics start to affect the perspective of the song itself since it’s powerful. Now for the meaning of this song, being in love with one person doesn’t last forever especially if the person wasn’t yours, to begin with. You could have been in love with this person your whole life but knew that you wouldn’t have a chance with them based on who they like. It seems as though he is jealous because of this person. And towards the end, he starts to question why he even had feelings for this person in the first place since he knows that this person could hurt his feelings badly. 

The seventh song is “Rollercoaster”. At the beginning of this song, it sounds like a lullaby. Then guitar is added in. It sounds very similar to “i wanna be your girlfriend” by girl in red because of how the vocals and instruments are being played throughout the song. It overall sounds like a dream that lures you in. It consumed my brain as the song continued to play. The meaning of this song is to do what you can in life while you’re still here even if it’s for yourself or others in the end, it’ll make an impact in some way or another. 

The second to last song is “Remington”. It’s the shortest song on the album but remember small and short objects or people can be impactful. It sounds like a video game soundtrack because of the constant noise and it adds a nice touch to the song as a whole. The vocals echo throughout the song as they join into the beat of the song. For the meaning, it means that you’re waiting for someone to be honest in a situation. The ninth and last song on this album is “Reprise.” It was about how the Lumineers as a team plan to have a bright future in their music career as they get older and some changes in their lives happen. 

All of the songs are nice on this album. It has calming music but I usually wouldn’t be caught listening to this type of music since I prefer harsher music. Genuinely this was a good album and would be able to recommend to others if they are currently looking for something that isn’t their usual vibe.