The Lumineers: Hudson Valley Love is on 'Automatic'
The Lumineers can't get enough of New York's Hudson Valley, Town of Woodstock and hamlet of Bearsville. And the bucolic region can't get enough of The Lumineers.
The album cover art for “Automatic,” the new album by The Lumineers, which is set for release on Valentine’s Day. (courtesy image)
The Lumineers have once again turned to New York’s Hudson Valley for inspiration.
Wesley Schultz, Jeremiah Fraites and company for the second time enlisted Ulster County NY-based maestros David Baron and Simone Felice as co-producers for their new album, “Automatic,” which is set for release on Valentine’s Day. The Lumineers as a band also received credit for co-producing.
The Lumineers and the region maintain strong bonds.
Baron and Felice co-produced “BRIGHTSIDE,” the 2022 Lumineers release recorded at Baron’s Sun Mountain Studios in Boiceville, not far from Woodstock. And Felice produced “III” and “Cleopatra,” two albums recorded by The Lumineers at The Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, across the Hudson River from Woodstock. “Cleopatra” was released in 2016. “III” came out in 2019.
For the “Automatic” sessions, The Lumineers and their team set up shop at Utopia Studios Bearsville, in Todd Rundgren’s old Utopia Studios building in the Woodstock hamlet of Bearsville. The Utopia Studios Bearsville operation is owned and operated by Pete Caigan, who is highly-respected throughout Hudson Valley and maintains a strong track record of empowering Woodstock’s storied musical legacy.
The Lumineers have in the past rehearsed at the Bearsville Theater, which like Utopia Studios is part of the Bearsville Center complex. That plot of land was originally developed by the late, legendary music impresario Albert Grossman, who managed Bob Dylan.
A major Woodstock link for The Lumineers comes by way of their bass player, Byron Isaacs, who for years performed with Levon Helm of The Band, in the Levon Helm Band. Isaacs contributed a song each to two of Helm’s three Grammy-winning solo albums—“Calvary” on “Dirt Farmer” and “Heaven’s Pearls” on “Electric Dirt.” Isaacs is also a member of the roots collective Ollabelle, which also features Helm’s daughter, Amy; Little Feat drummer Tony Leone; and Bonnie Raitt keyboard player Glenn Patscha.
And in September, Lumineers multi-instrumentalist Stelth Ulvang performed a compelling set of music in Kingston, not far from Woodstock, at The Unicorn Bar.
The Lumineers—Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites. (Photo by Noah Griffel)
Now playing venues like Wrigley Field in Chicago and Saratoga Performing Arts Center north of Albany, The Lumineers years ago performed at Radio Woodstock’s Mountain Jam festival at Hunter Mountain in Greene County; and the station’s Speed of Sound Festival at what is now called Hudson Valley Regional Airport in Dutchess County.
More recently, Schultz played a benefit concert at The Griffin House in Palenville and sat in with Simone Felice’s old band, The Felice Brothers, at Assembly Kingston on Dec. 30.
From a press release issued on behalf of The Lumineers:
“The two-time Grammy Award-nominated and chart-topping band’s fifth studio album and first new collection in more than three years, ‘Automatic’ is heralded by the exhilarating first single, “Same Old Song,” available everywhere now. True to form, the track, like the rest of the album, was written by co-founders Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites. Being one of the few top groups who writes all their own material is, says Schultz, ‘a unique badge of honor.’
“‘This album marks 20 years of songwriting between Jeremiah and me,’ says Wesley Schultz. ‘The album explores some of the absurdities of the modern world, like the increasingly blurry line between what’s real and what’s not, and the variety of ways we numb ourselves while trying to combat both boredom and overstimulation.’
“A speedy chronicle of misadventures showcasing The Lumineers’ undeniable flair for a soaring rave-up, ‘Same Old Song’ is joined by an official music video featuring Schultz and Fraites performing in front of a living canvas where scenes play out like VHS home movies, creating a morphing collage of moments that feel both immediate and remote. The projections provide a surreal, mysterious window into the mind and memories of The Lumineers, visually manifesting the song’s emotionally resonant lyrics. The video for ‘Same Old Song’ was directed by Anaïs LaRocca.
“...Inspired by Peter Jackson’s 2021 Beatles documentary ‘Get Back,’ the band, with the help of co-producers David Baron and Simone Felice, set up shop in the expansive tracking room at Woodstock's Utopia Studio. Multiple set-ups—with two sets of drums, three different pianos, and an array of amps, guitars, vocal mics—were laid out, allowing the musicians to pivot and capture as much as possible with minimal delay. The process further freed The Lumineers to perform the songs as a unit, allowing the band to capture the raw, organic presentation of the anthemic new tracks. For the first time on a Lumineers album, the band is credited as co-producers alongside Baron and Felice. Baron engineered and mixed ‘Automatic,’ as he did for the band’s last two albums.”
Click here for information on “Automatic” and upcoming tour dates featuring The Lumineers.