Let’s compare two alleged tracks from the Automatic session that exist in both a low-quality webrip and the "2025rar" high-fidelity version.

Track 3: "Automatic Window"

Track 7: "Better Now (Was Worse Then)"

Here’s where it gets slippery. No one from The Lumineers’ camp has confirmed the leak. Their label, Dualtone, sent out a standard “we do not comment on unofficial releases” email. But interestingly, they didn’t issue a takedown. Not yet.

And the filename itself is weirdly specific. 2025rar suggests it was packed in 2025. The “better” could be a taunt – or a plea. As if someone inside the studio said, “You’re about to ruin this album. Here’s the raw version. This is better.”

If you download a .rar file from the internet, follow these steps to access the music:

The .rar (a compressed folder, for the non-nerds) reportedly contains 11 tracks. Not the polished, string-drenched anthems we heard on Brightside or III. No. These are demos. Scratchy vocals. Out-of-tune pianos. A banjo that sounds like it’s being played on a porch in a thunderstorm.

And that’s why fans are saying it’s “better.”

The official versions of these songs – allegedly slated for a real 2025 album called Automatic – were over-produced. Too clean. Too safe. The .rar leak strips away the studio gloss. In one leaked track (“Salt & Rust”), you can hear Schultz’s voice crack on the second chorus. In another (“Neon Fade”), someone (likely cellist/vocalist Jeremiah Fraites) laughs in the middle of a verse and they just… kept it.

That’s the “better” part. Not better mixing. Better soul.