Platinum-selling, Denver outfit, The Lumineers, have announced their long-awaited return with news of second album Cleopatra – the follow up to their multi-Grammy-nominated, self-titled debut – and a much anticipated headline UK tour
The band also reveal their compelling first single, ‘Ophelia', instantly recognisable as The Lumineers with its syncopated piano rolls and sing-along chorus, released on 5th February 2016.
After exploding onto the scene with their monster single, 'Ho Hey', and its follow-up, 'Stubborn Love' (recently featured on President Barack Obama’s Spotify playlist), The Lumineers spent a solid three years touring six of the seven continents. During that time, the band earned a pair of Grammy nominations (Best New Artist, Best Americana Album), contributed two songs to The Hunger Games franchise (including the hit Jennifer Lawrence/James Newton Howard collaboration, 'The Hanging Tree') and sold an impressive 3 million+ albums worldwide.
Check out the new single 'Ophelia' which is out now:
The Lumineers took the UK by storm with the release of their first album in 2012, which propelled them from appearing at Hoxton Bar & Grill as relative unknowns, to playing two consecutive sold-out nights at Brixton Academy and headlining the 10,400 capacity Alexandra Palace as household names. And it was their show-stopping performance on the Other Stage at Glastonbury in 2013 that cemented their position as one of the biggest breakout bands in the world.
But Cleopatra proves original members Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites – who founded the band in Ramsey, New Jersey back in 2002 – along with cellist/vocalist Neyla Pekarek, are neither taking their good fortune for granted, nor sitting back on their laurels.
With the help of producer Simone Felice (The Felice Brothers, The Avett Brothers), the band ensconced themselves in The Clubhouse, a recording studio high atop a hill in rural Rhinebeck, NY, not far from Woodstock. The Lumineers then set about trying to make musical sense of their three-year-plus rollercoaster ride. Their skill at setting a visual story to music comes through amidst the delicate, deceptively simple acoustic soundscapes.
“We took the same approach this time as we did with the first album, recording demos in a small house we rented in the original Denver neighborhood where we first moved,” explains Wesley, contributing the lyrical ideas while collaborating on the music with Jeremiah, who tackled a variety of instruments, including guitar, the very prominent piano and trademark tribal drums.
There is something timeless about this band that links their songs to 18th century pastorals, 19th century work songs, 20th century folk narratives and 21st century post-modern cinematic soundscapes. Success hasn’t spoiled The Lumineers; rather, it’s inspired them to follow their muses even further.
HEADLINE UK 2016 TOUR:
Thur Apr 14 – Bristol, O2 Academy
Fri Apr 15 – Glasgow, Barrowlands
Tue Apr 19 – Manchester, Albert Hall
Sunday Apr 24 – London, Brixton Academy
Published on 16 March 2016 by Wayne Feltham
