We’re better together, say The Lumineers as they release new album

“YOU’RE all I got” crops up in two songs on The Lumineers’ new album. It serves as the title of one heartfelt ballad and it appears in the opening lines of another, Keys On The Table. The expression suggests deep dependence on a loved one — with a hint of vulnerability, even desperation. It clearly resonates with the band’s core members, Wesley Schultz (lead vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion, keyboards).

So, on one level, it’s about the people closest to them — most importantly their partners and their young children. But it also represents the feelings the pair maintain for each other through thick and thin, what they describe as a “20-year rollercoaster ride”. “This relationship has given both of us EVERYTHING,” admits the thoughtful Fraites. “‘You’re all I got’ is an exaggerated way of looking at it.

“I’m sure there are days when Wes and I wish we just could go out and have a sandwich without feeling any of the stress or responsibility. “We both have friends in our lives for that, but I’ve never written songs with them that have changed my life.”. The more extrovert Schultz sums it up by adding: “We know we need each other to make the best of things. We’re better together!”. On their fifth studio record, Automatic, The Lumineers have peeled back veneers to make the most raw and spontaneous music of their career.

Decamping to Woodstock in upstate New York, their preferred place to make records, they partly took their cue from The Beatles’ Get Back documentary, which highlighted The Fab Four’s free-spirited creative process. “Watching them work together was such a joy,” says Schultz. “They had a strange alchemy.”. The Lumineers were also inspired by taking part in a ­concert film celebrating Bruce Springsteen’s stripped-back acoustic album Nebraska, for which they performed Mansion On The Hill and State Trooper.

Schultz says: “On Nebraska, everything is a little disarming. You’re thinking, ‘Woah, this is just Springsteen in a room’. “For this album, we didn’t do many demos, aside from very rudimentary sketches. We just relied on gut instinct.”. To illustrate his bandmate’s point, Fraites recalls the creation of Same Old Song, Automatic’s emphatic opening rave-up. Noted for his inventive beats, he says: “We started working on it late one ­afternoon. I just did some taps on the floor and we turned that sound into a loop — very bespoke percussion!”.

Schultz laughs at the memory and says: “It was wild, like throwing paint at the wall.”. “A bit like an audio Jackson Pollock,” continues Fraites, referring to the artist who loved to splatter his canvasses. “So we had this very basic thing, then Wes laid down acoustic guitar and vocals and I went crazy in a Keith Moon [The Who] or John Bonham [Led Zeppelin] kind of way. “The feedback from the boys in the control room was, ‘That was f***ing cool, do another one like that!’.”.

For this unassuming pair, the 11-track Automatic symbolises the strength of their unbreakable bond. It is also the work of older, wiser artists who have a different set of priorities since they became dads. Schultz says: “These days, we have an easier time saying ‘no’ because we don’t want to miss out on the gift of having kids. “When you’re starting out as an artist, you have to say ‘yes’ to literally everything, if you want to make it.

It’s not about being better — it’s just about this thing we have. It’s about 20 years, it’s about thousands of hours together. “Now there’s a natural boundary line in the sand. You develop a backbone if you didn’t have one already.”. Although they live on separate continents — Schultz in Denver, Colorado and Fraites in Turin, Italy — sparks fly when they get together in the studio and on stage.

With songs like breakthrough hit Ho Hey, Stubborn Love, Ophelia and Cleopatra, their rousing brand of Americana has captivated arena-sized audiences around the globe — but they still take nothing for granted. One look at Schultz, 42, with his flowing locks and full beard and ­Fraites, 39, with his braces and porkpie hat, you’d think some verandah in backwoods America would be a fitting place to hang out with them.

But I join them in the somewhat incongruous surroundings of a hotel conference room, with the roar of central London providing background noise to our chat. Later that day, they play an intimate acoustic gig at Hoxton Hall and they’re due to return with their touring band in May for a string of UK dates, including one at the capital’s O2 Arena. Despite their self-deprecating charm, Schultz and Fraites acknowledge the special chemistry that has propelled them to success.