It has been a very long time coming on this one, 4 years and 5 days to be exact, since The Lumineers dropped their self titled debut album. Since then, the group has risen to considerable fame particularly on the backs of their two big singles “Ho Hey” and “Stubborn Love.” While there may have been a substantial amount of time between the two records, the group hasn’t missed a beat. The new record Cleopatra is a perfect return to form offering the same mix of stripped down indie folk played with an upbeat energy.
From the first note Cleopatra fit right into expectations and didn’t deviate from the formula till the last tune faded away. That is really the only complaint I can find with this record, it is very predictable and the songs do not sound very different from the last album. While the lack of sonic diversity may be a bit of a turn off there is an easy explanation for it… the group has a very specific sound that they are very good at so they stick to it. And for anyone who went into this album expecting a Radiohead-like musical exploration all I can say is, listen to “Ophelia” and then explain to me why they shouldn’t try to sound like that all the time.
The top album preceding single this time was “Ophelia” the piano driven ballad that has the typical amount of bounce and drama to it that one would expect from The Lumineers. Like “Ho Hey” before it, “Ophelia” is a great choice for the album’s A-single. The piano during the chorus particularly stands out as a sort of wild west saloon inspired flutter of notes that can’t help but catch the listener’s attention. The tune has the perfect amount of rootsy tone and pop appeal to capture a large audience and mainstream radio play for the band yet again.
The album is filled with ups and downs, not in terms of quality mind you but in the strength of the sound in each respective songs. The tunes switch back and forth from full ensemble pieces to just solo ventures for lead man Wesley Shultz. The tones fluctuate everywhere from somber dirges like “Sick In The Head” to uptempo electric ballads like “Cleopatra.”
At the end of the record there are a few things that are painfully clear, one of which being that The Lumineers have found a way to capture a huge range of genuine and strong emotions and frame them in their music. The other most blaring point is that while their sound may not be very diverse, they have completely mastered it. Songs like “In The Light” or “Ophelia” are extremely impressive crossovers between the Americana and pop communities and have strong appealing ties to both worlds (not an easy feat given a lot of the indie folk community’s distain for pop music). With their continued universal appeal, Cleopatra seals itself as a perfect continuation of The Lumineers body of work.
For a little bonus here is the official video for the new single “Ophelia.”
-Ryan Schmitz
