The Lumineers rode the big wave of the revival of folk-infused indie-rock in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Go to any karaoke event and you can trust songs like “Ho Hey,” “Stubborn Love” or “Ophelia” to be absolute crowd-pleasers. Over the past 13 years—despite the eroding popularity of the genre—The Lumineers have managed to craft a solid discography with their raw, confessional and heart-wrenching lyricism fused with acoustic instrumentation. “Automatic” is the 5th studio effort from the Denver-based duo and follows “Brightside” from 2022. “Automatic” is a significant switch-up in terms of its lyrical depth. Consider the self-deprecation in “A**hole,” “But maybe now I’m just a coward envying the brave/And every time you tried to let me in.” The band manages to make the mundane sound anthemic like they do on the catchy opener “Same Old Song.” “Ativan” is a beautiful ode to the medicine for anxiety.
Alongside the subtleties and quiet grace in the instrumentation, the band never fails to inject their brand of caustic humor in places. The title track is an allegory to the fast-paced automated lives we live: “And the nursery rhymes/ You learned when you were only five/ They’re darker than the dead of night.” Sometimes, the simplicity of the lyricism hurts the replay value of songs—like “Keys On The Table.” However, when the band delivers, they do it in spades. “You’re All I Got” is a rumination of lost love, and they execute it with panache (“Frozen handshake, rip the band-aid/ Blame yourself for what you didn’t say”). Throughout these tracks, the band explores themes of escapism from a world fraught with excesses and boredom. It is particularly apparent in the wonderful “Plasticine” (“Evеryone in a world so full of/ Sold you on the pictures/ Arе you sure you wanna live forever?”)
My gripe with this album is that it fails to capture the anthemic highs that were sprinkled all over the band’s early work. However, “Automatic” is a solid effort from a band not afraid to evolve and expand into new sonic terrain.