After much anticipation, The Lumineers have released their fourth studio album, Brightside. The record, released via Dualtone in the U.S. and Canada and Decca in the rest of the world, features the singles “A.M.,” “Big Shot,” and “Brightside,” the latter of which has topped both the Alternative National Airplay and Adult Alternative Airplay charts.
Speaking about the main themes in the record, the band’s singer-guitarist Wesley Schultz said: “Hope is a risky thing. It doesn’t ignore the danger, but rather it believes in the face of danger. Brightside is an album that hopes, even against the sadness and staggering odds.”
Earlier today, in celebration of the album’s release, the duo shared a video for the album’s next single, “Where We Are,” which premiered on Facebook. The arresting, dramatic visuals tell the same story as the song itself, which is about a car accident that Schultz was involved in with his wife, roughly ten years ago.
“[It was one of those accidents where] you’re driving down the road and everything is smooth and an accident happens very quickly and then you spend years picking up the pieces of it,” Schultz said in a recent interview with USA Today. “It feels like collectively we’ve been in that car crash the past couple of years and it felt like a more interesting way to talk about [the pandemic].” Last night, the band offered an engaging performance of the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Recorded in two sessions across the winter and spring of 2021 in Boiceville, New York, Brightside was produced by The Lumineers’ longtime collaborator, Simone Felice. Schultz and multi-instrumentalist Jeremiah Fraites performed virtually all of the record’s instrumentation themselves, with touring members Byron Isaacs and Lauren Jacobson also lending their talents in parts.
