Denver folk outfit The Lumineers show thought and progression as a band with concept album 'III' about a family ripped apart by alcoholism and substance abuse.
After losing cellist Neyla Pekarek last year to pursue a solo career, remaining members Wes Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites were forced to adjust their sound. While Pekarek was never credited as a songwriter for The Lumineers, her cello and vocal harmonies became a big part of their early success and style in tracks like "Ho Hey" and "Stubborn Love". The sound they’ve settled on for this album is similar to that of the demos released before their record deal - rough and ready acoustic guitar, basic percussion and piano.
The structure of the record reflects the concept, split into thirds that represent a different member of the fictional Sparks family. The front end of the album is considerably more commercially friendly than the back, mimicking the descent into addiction and destruction that was present in both Schultz and Fraites' childhoods in New Jersey. As many outlets have formatted the album, it is to be considered as a 3 part work and I'm sure it's no coincidence that it's their third album.
Musically it’s almost a track-by-track descent from their folk-pop realm into a moody reflection, with both singles found in the poppier opening five of ten tracks. This makes for a strong narrative flow to the album, but means a gradual but substantial genre shift, so much so that there will be fans of the first tracks who struggle to engage with the latter tracks and vice versa.
The marketing campaign for III has unusually been based around the visual element of the record, a film collaboration with director Kevin Phillips. The Lumineers' music has been set to his short film which tells the same story - three generations of alcohol and drug abuse, also released to the world this week at Toronto International Film Festival. Segments of this have served as individual music videos for the current singles and future releases, to great anticipation amongst fans.
The singles themselves ("Gloria", "It Wasn't Easy To Be Happy For You") are solid and very similar to previous singles, but it seems that they're taking this change in personnel as an opportunity to re-think previous ground. The second half of the record is substantially stronger in terms of depth and complexity, considering topics they were probably reluctant to write about 9 years ago when the same instrumentation yielded a happy Americana sound. It's just a shame that the cello is no longer part of the equation as it would sit very well in the mix.
There is still an element of continuity in their work however. There are entire vocal lines lifted from the last album, with words from "Cleopatra" making their way into "Life In The City". But the lo-fi recording on many of tracks is more in line with their first album. It all suggests that they've carefully combed their previous musical output and doubled down on the bittersweet, removing a lot of the optimism and happiness to reflect the topic and tone at hand, which, if the short film is to be consulted, seems to be heavily influenced by Grant Wood's American Gothic.
The album is at its strongest towards the end as it enters the territory of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen (the bonus track version includes a cover of Cohen’s "Democracy"). Overall it is rewardingly full and understated, and will receive plaudits for its depth but won't be played on many radio stations. This won't come as a shock to Schultz & Fraites, with the luxury of two multi-platinum selling albums to their name, they’ve know what sells and have moved away from the pop world and begun to make music that interviews suggest they've been aiming to make for a long time.