The Lumineers Release Isabelle Fly From The Starling

The Lumineers have released “Isabelle Fly”, a song originally written for the 2021 Netflix film The Starling, as part of Dualtone’s 25th anniversary collection, Keep Pressing On: 25 Years Of Dualtone.

by Paul Cashmere

The Lumineers have officially released “Isabelle Fly”, a song that was written for the 2021 Netflix film The Starling but remained largely outside the band’s main album catalogue. The track is included on Keep Pressing On: 25 Years Of Dualtone, a collection marking 25 years of the independent label that has been home to The Lumineers throughout their career.

“Isabelle Fly” was written by The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites for The Starling, where it features during the film’s opening title sequence. The sequence establishes the film’s central bird motif, following a starling as it moves through its environment and builds a nest.

The song’s refrain, “It’s alright, Isabelle, it’s alright / I know there’s only one way to fly”, gives the track a direct connection to the film’s themes of grief, acceptance and moving forward. The recording was produced by Simone Felice and performed by The Lumineers.

For listeners who encountered the song through The Starling, its inclusion on the Dualtone anniversary collection provides a more formal place for a recording that has existed on the margins of the band’s catalogue since the film’s release.

Directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Matt Harris, The Starling stars Melissa McCarthy as Lilly Maynard, a woman attempting to rebuild her life after the death of her infant daughter. Chris O’Dowd plays her husband, Jack, who is dealing with his grief while receiving treatment in a psychiatric facility.

The film uses the increasingly aggressive starling nesting in Lilly’s garden as both a practical problem and a recurring symbol. Lilly eventually develops an unlikely relationship with veterinarian Dr Larry Fine, played by Kevin Kline, while confronting the grief that has disrupted her marriage and daily life.

The Starling premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021 before receiving a limited theatrical release and moving to Netflix on September 24.

Its critical response was considerably less positive than the response to its cast. Rotten Tomatoes recorded a 19 percent critics’ score from 94 reviews, while Metacritic gave the film 31 out of 100 from 23 critics, placing it in the generally unfavourable category. The film nevertheless found a more receptive audience, with the Rotten Tomatoes audience score substantially higher.

That split is relevant to “Isabelle Fly”, because the song has retained an identity separate from the wider critical response to the film. Its placement in the opening sequence was one of the film’s more clearly defined musical moments, establishing the bird imagery and the emotional framework before Lilly’s story unfolds.

“Isabelle Fly” also sits naturally within a catalogue built around concise melodies, acoustic instrumentation and narratives dealing with relationships, loss and resilience.

The Lumineers began with Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites, who had been writing and performing together before moving from New York to Denver in 2009. Neyla Pekarek joined in 2010, forming the three-piece configuration that became closely associated with the group’s early breakthrough.

The self-titled The Lumineers was released in 2012 and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Its defining single, “Ho Hey”, became an international hit, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spending 62 weeks on the chart. “Stubborn Love” further established the band’s presence at alternative and adult alternative radio.

The Lumineers followed with Cleopatra in 2016, their first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. The record produced “Ophelia”, “Cleopatra” and “Angela”, extending the band’s audience while maintaining the stripped-back songwriting approach of their debut.

Their third album, III, followed in 2019, while Brightside was released in 2022. The group’s fifth studio album, Automatic, followed in 2025.

The band has also repeatedly worked beyond its core album releases. Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites contributed to “The Hanging Tree” for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, while The Lumineers later collaborated with Zach Bryan on “Spotless”, which reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their music has also appeared across film and television, making “Isabelle Fly” part of a continuing relationship between the band’s songwriting and screen storytelling.

The release of “Isabelle Fly” through Keep Pressing On: 25 Years Of Dualtone gives the song a new context while connecting it to the history of the label that helped establish The Lumineers.

Rather than representing a new phase for the band, the track is a previously underrepresented piece of their catalogue becoming more accessible. Its origins in The Starling also reinforce how The Lumineers have extended their songwriting into film, television and collaborative projects without moving far from the intimate, narrative-driven approach that defined their earliest recordings.

“Isabelle Fly” is therefore both a soundtrack recording and a catalogue piece, connecting a 2021 film project with The Lumineers’ longer history at Dualtone.