ilLuminated

Dear Friends,

Since my discovery of Napster back at the turn of the Millenium, I’ve had a hunger for music. Every Saturday morning in my tweens, I would take a post-it with the list of songs I’d collected throughout the week into our computer room and start the day-long downloading process. I owe Napster for so many things, one of them being the fact that I can sing several of the “Coyote Ugly” Leann Rimes’ singles word for word without ever having seen the movie.

Needless to say, I’ve been searching out music wherever I can get it for nearly as long as I can remember. In fact, even before the Napster miracle (I know it was controversial, but I loved Napster back then and will always feel a strong sense of nostalgia when I think of those days), I had my love of soundtracks, like “Swan Princess,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and the nearly perfect “The Parent Trap” (Lindsay Lohan version) soundtrack, as well as an inherited love for my parents’ music, like the Lorrie Morgan tape my dad would play on road trips, his Garth Brooks enthusiasm, and my mom’s U2 fanaticism.

Music triggers emotions and images within me unlike anything else. I know this is the same for many people, that I’m not so different in that way. There are songs or albums that reach me so powerfully that I want everyone to feel or understand, so I tell everyone to listen. Or at the very least I listen over and over again just to continue to feel the same. I don’t know if that makes sense? Have you ever had that experience?

I’ve had this experience several times throughout my life, but the most recent time was while listening to The Lumineers’ second album “Cleopatra,” which was released just after my birthday in April of this year.

I don’t know if you love The Lumineers, but I’ve loved them for quite a while. That may have something to do with my connection to this album. But when I heard this album for the first time, there were moments that I cried, there were moments I turned up the radio full blast and repeated songs again and again. But mostly, I got the feeling I get when music and me collide – it feels electric. I know this sounds crazy and maybe even a little kitschy, but it’s a real thing.

The Lumineers haven’t gotten enough credit. Their first album was so great, it even got me through big storms on two different road trips. They did have their first single, “Ho Hey,” which, since came out in 2012, we’ve nearly heard on repeat on the radio, and covered and spoofed and everything in between. They had the popular “Stubborn Love,” too. But somehow, when I list The Lumineers as one of my favorite bands, multiple people still respond with blank stares. (If you do not know who The Lumineers are, that’s okay! Just look them up RIGHT NOW.)

Now they have their second album, which is just as good, if not better than their first. It’s time I made some noise about them. I don’t want this to be as much of an in-depth i-Tunes or Rolling Stone review than a short, emphatic recommendation. The Lumineers’s new album is mature and emotional. One of things I love most about it is that it makes me happy to be a human and I think of how magical it would be to listen to as I drive across country. It’s always been one of my dreams to drive across country and this album makes me want to get the courage somehow. The album feels sad at times, but mostly resolved and hopeful. They have a knack for storytelling, especially in the titular track “Cleopatra,” which makes me ache.

Overall, I love the album so much. Listen. I hope you like it, too. I loved this album so much that I bought a ticket to go to their concert alone when they come to Phoenix. I’m okay going alone because I’ve listened so much that I feel like I’ll be seeing my friends. Pathetic? Maybe. But I’m choosing to say it’s fine.

I’ll end with this line from “In the Light,” one of my favorite songs on the album.

“Fate
Dealt you a tricky hand.
Now you’re just left alone in your mind,
And I am gone away.”

OH! And watch the video to Cleopatra here. It’s a good one.

Your illuminated friend,