Cleopatra – The Lumineers

I like these guys. I really do. There’s a simplicity in their music that is somewhat deceptive, because while they write these contagiously likeable melodies there is much greater depth in the honesty of their lyrics. For that reason the Lumineers owe more to folk as a genre than rock n roll.

The back story on this band began with two guys – Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites. They first began performing together in 2002, but it took 10 years before they broke through with the song Ho Hey and by then they’d added cellist Neyla Pekarek to complete their line up. Ho Hey became one of the most played songs of 2012, it was followed by their wonderful second single Stubborn Love and their self titled debut album, which was a global smash.

The band’s refreshing, minimalist approach to making music where less is so much more hasn’t been lost in the making of their follow up album Cleopatra. Flushed with the success of their debut it must have been tempting to go into the studio with a massive budget and all guns blazing, but thankfully that hasn’t happened. The title track is based on a real story, as Wesley Schultz explains:

“It’s inspired by a true story about a female taxi driver who, when she was younger, was proposed to. But her father had just passed away, so she didn’t give her boyfriend an answer. So he left the village broken-hearted and rejected and never returned again. He was her great love and she wouldn’t wash the footprints off the floor after he had left.

I knew immediately that I wanted to write a song about the story because it was so haunting and poetic. And I got to meet the lady herself eventually and she was very honest and humble. She really affected me because of the sadness in her story. In today’s world, we are just inundated with images of grandness and how great everyone’s life is. And it’s not true. In fact, it’s depressing. This was a real and honest story.”

True to the Lumineers’ style the song, despite the sadness of its origins is beautifully conceived, managing to be both thought provoking and uplifting. It’s a gorgeous song and the accompanying video is just a wonderful little film befitting the song and Cleopatra’s story.