It had been three years and one month since the folk band The Lumineers released new material. The dry spell was broken on Feb. 14, 2025, when The Lumineers released their new 11-song album “Automatic.” 

Jeremiah Fraites and Wesley Schultz have been making music together for 20 years. The Denver band’s hit single “Ho Hey” accrued more than 1.4 billion streams on Spotify, kicking off their music career. With Schultz on lead vocals and Fraites doing almost everything else, it’s incredible that this band consists of just the two.

It’s hard to be completely satisfied with an album on the first listen, especially if the album is as highly anticipated as this one. In all honesty, I was initially uninspired by the new album, just as I was with Taylor Swift’s “Midnights.” This is a reflection of my judgment of the artist, and The Lumineers are of the highest caliber in my “professional” opinion. It was a doomed first listen from the get-go. Yet, I persisted and listened a second time. By the third listen, I was hooked. “Automatic” had seeped into my subconscious as I hummed the lyrics unknowingly. 

In an interview with independent music journal Atwood Magazine, Fraites predicted the general reaction to this album: “I think when fans hear this album, I think inevitably a handful of fans will get turned off on the first few listens because it is a departure from our sound,” Fraites said.

For Tamalpais High School senior Natalia Clifford, the album was a welcome surprise: “My first thoughts were that these songs had a different vibe to them from the previous albums. It had a more calming and relaxing tone to it,” Clifford said.

The Lumineers are known for their distinct sound, and I think that this album is unique in that it offers a different side of the band that fans haven’t been exposed to yet. There is a clearer vulnerability in this album, especially when noting that this album celebrates 20 years of Schultz and Fraites creating masterpieces together. 

Each track, upon repeated listens, reveals a new layer of vivid complexity, following three prominent themes throughout the album’s lyrics. Each song deserves its moment to shine, and the three motifs of mental health struggles, relationship challenges, and social commentary summarize and illuminate the Lumineers’ complex emotions portrayed in this album.

“These songs bring up topics people struggle with today and connect them to how they used to be seen and used previously,” Clifford said.

Struggles with Mental Health and Dependency

It’s common knowledge that lots of popular songs are about the power and strength of love, or of heartbreak, but another familiar trope is coping with mental health issues. The second track of the album—“Asshole”—grapples with the struggle of being vulnerable when you’ve been hurt before. A lyric that stood out to me was: “And every time you tried to let me in / Your nails, they barely broke the skin.” In this line, the speaker is describing what it feels like to love someone who cannot put their full effort into being emotionally open. This song is by far my favorite of this album because the seemingly aggressive tone of the title “Asshole” is contrasted by the somber and heart wrenching lyrics. 

The track “Keys on the Table” focuses on the development of an unhealthy dependency on someone else, and how that can be debilitating for both people involved. In his interview with Atwood Magazine, Fraites mentioned that this song was particularly emotional for him to write.

“A lyric that poured out of me was, ‘Would you sell me out the first chance you get? You’re all I got.’ It was sort of the paranoid, almost anxious side of being in a relationship with someone,” Fraites said. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this song as well because the symbol of leaving your keys on the table is a sign of trust, allowing the other person to unlock your trust.

When I first listened to the album, the track “Ativan” surprised me, mostly due to the fact that I had no idea what Ativan was or its significance. Ativan is a prescription drug that is used to treat anxiety. Knowing this, I listened more intently to the song, and I was emotionally floored. The lyric, “I’ll provide the poison and the medicine / The only thing you’re ever gonna need,” shocked me because this line is so symbolic of trying to relieve someone else’s anxiety, when you know that, inevitably, you can’t do much.

Challenges in Relationships

The title track “Automatic” similarly did not disappoint. If there’s one thing that The Lumineers are good at writing about, it’s heartbreak and unhealthy relationships. In “Automatic,” the lyric “Take your victory lap, running on an empty track / The circle always brings you back” highlights the desire for a partner to get out of this dysfunctional relationship, yet they always end up coming back. This cycle turns their love into something mechanical, an inescapable, automatic loop.

Social Commentary

My second favorite track on the album is “Plasticine.” The word plasticine is a British word for modeling clay, and the song represents how people change themselves to appeal to others. The lyric “Mixing up all our friends and enemies / Wasting all of your precious energy,” highlights societal pressure to conform and how people can lose sight of what’s important. I think, especially in this modern age, this song is a reminder that social media and ultra-glamorous lifestyles are exaggerated and unauthentic.

The last track of the album perfectly encapsulates The Lumineers’ 20-year journey. “So Long” represents how fame can be fleeting, and it is therefore something to be cherished but not obsessed over. Schultz sings “Maybe we’ll be famous when we die,” which was an intriguing lyric for me because, despite the fact that The Lumineers have had their moments of fame, at some point, everyone will be forgotten. While this is a solemn way to wrap up the album, I enjoyed this as the last song because it accurately represents the ephemeral nature of our existence.

As the band prepares to take “Automatic” on tour, it is clear that the album will only continue to grow on listeners. These songs will linger and stand the tests of time, and hopefully, we won’t have to wait another three years for an album as singular and inspiring as this one. 

Schultz told the music radio station Colorado Sound that this album felt honest when he and Fraites recorded it, and it shows. Although this album may not be my favorite of The Lumineers, it is the most emotionally charged one, and each time I listen to it, a new emotion is conveyed, and a new note becomes more powerful.

“I think the beautiful thing about music, and the reason why I think people come back to the well of music over and over is because it reminds us of how to feel,” Schultz said in his interview with Colorado Sound.