The Lumineers bring ‘Brightside’ to Pine Knob
It’s been a productive pandemic for the Lumineers. During the unexpected down time the Grammy Award-nominated duo each recorded solo albums — Wesley Schultz’s covers set “Vignettes” and Jeremiah Fraites’ solo piano outing “Piano Piano.” And during January the pair released its fourth studio album, “Brightside,” which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums chart. “It’s kind of an unexpected thing to have made an album at all, actually,” notes Schultz, 39. “We were in the midst of touring on album ‘III,’ going great, the best tour we’ve ever been on. That stopped abruptly (in March of 2020) and we went home and didn’t know what to do with ourselves for a few months. Jer made a solo album, I made a solo album and we were just sort of acclimating back into whatever normal was. The album came out of that.”
Working with previous producer Simon Felice as well as some new collaborators, the nine-track “Brightside” was a different kind of endeavor. After the exacting precision the group applied to its previous three efforts, Schultz and Fraites loosened up, and they feel the music benefitted as a result. “I think in the past we were dead set in getting things right in an almost OCD way,” Schultz acknowledges. “So this gave us a brand new feeling going into the studio, like if you were an actor who’s used to having a script and you’re gonna do an improv night. This time was more like thinking of an idea on the spot and hitting record and getting it right then and there. I think you get a much different performance out of that.”