''III'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

indie folk Indie folk is a music genre that arose in the 1990s among musicians from indie rock scenes influenced by folk music. Indie folk hybridizes the acoustic guitar melodies of traditional folk music with contemporary instrumentation. The genre has its ...

band

the Lumineers The Lumineers are an American alternative folk band based in Denver, Colorado. The founding members are Wesley Schultz (lead vocals, guitar) and Jeremiah Fraites (drums, percussion, piano). Schultz and Fraites began writing and performing toge ...

. The album was released on September 13, 2019.

Composition

In addition to being the Lumineers' third album, the album title also references the fact that the album is presented in three chapters, each focusing on a different main character of the fictional Sparks family. Lumineers co-founder

Jeremiah Fraites Jeremiah Caleb Fraites (born January 17, 1986) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He is the co-founder of The Lumineers and is a songwriter for the band. He was born and raised in Ramsey, New Jersey. Early ...

told ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', "This collection of songs worked out in a beautiful way, and I feel with this album we've really hit our stride." In an interview with

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, Fraites and Schultz both discussed how their lives have been impacted by

drug addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use of ...

, saying that this album was intended to chronicle the effects of addiction on family members and loved ones. "Schultz says he had a childhood friend in New Jersey who slowly came apart as a teenager because of drug addiction. Both band members experienced this because Schultz's friend, Josh Fraites, was the brother of his future bandmate, Jeremiah." As of September 19, 2019, the Lumineers have released 10

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s from the first 10 tracks of the album, chronicling the main characters and their journey living alongside addiction.

Commercial performance

''III'' debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with 86,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s, including 73,000 pure album sales. It is the Lumineers' third top-two album in the US.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

. The Lumineers *

Wesley Schultz Wesley Keith Schultz (born December 30, 1982) is the guitarist and lead vocalist for the American folk rock band The Lumineers. Life and career Schultz grew up in Ramsey, New Jersey,engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

− drums, piano, guitar, background vocals, synthesizer,

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

, cymbals,

scraper Scrape, scraper or scraping may refer to: Biology and medicine * Abrasion (medical), a type of injury * Scraper (biology), grazer-scraper, a water animal that feeds on stones and other substrates by grazing algae, microorganism and other matter ...

, tambourine, engineering Additional musicians * Byron Isaacs − bass, background vocals * Lauren Jacobson − violin, background vocals * Simone Felice − maracas, background vocals * David Baron − synthesizer, keyboards,

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

* Anneke Schaul-Yoder − cello,

yodeling Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from the ...

Technical * Simone Felice – producer *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

– mastering * David Baron – mixing, engineering *

Ryan Hewitt Ryan Michael Hewitt (born January 24, 1991) is a former American football tight end and Fullback (gridiron football), fullback. He played college football at Stanford Cardinal football, Stanford and was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an und ...

– mixing, engineering * Alen Adzi Stefanov – engineering * Darren Heelis – engineering * Pete Hanlon – engineering * Connor Milton – assistant engineer * Will Duperier – assistant engineer * Dylan Nowik – assistant Design * Nicholas Sutton Bell – creative director * Kevin Phillips – photography * Max Knies – photography * Tomas Cristobal Patlan – portrait photography

Composition

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References