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DVDfever.co.uk – Luka Bloom: Eleven Songs CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
BigSky Records
- Released: October 2008
- Rating: 8/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Was Kevin Barry Moore now Luka Bloom.
Younger brother of legendary Irish singer-songwriter Christy Moore,
Luka, taken from Suzanne Vegas song of the same name, was adopted to avoid pressures of being related to his older bro. Bloom derives from compatriot James Joyces Ulysses.
His style is commonly known as electro-acoustic, with a finger-picking style adopted early on in his career, but tendonitis forced him to be strummer instead. He plays in the DADGAD tuning style through a bass amplifier, giving it a warm and haunting timbre.
Theres a huge roll-call of musicians on duty: 17, plus members of the Gardiner Street Gospel Choir.
This rich and warm album is very engaging. Not only that, theres a sincerity seldom heard in songwriting these days.
This has primarily been achieved by going for a more traditional live sound, a return to an earlier raw template, aided by (ex-The Frames ex-Kila / Josh Ritter) guitar wizard David Odlum engineering things. The album takes artistic cues from the simplicity of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss Raising Sand album, not that there are any direct musical comparisons.
Lyrically, Bloom is bursting with inspiration, and there are plenty of melodies to keep us all enthralled at his mastery songcraft. Over 30 years hes remained consistently very good, so theres no change in terms of quality songs which have kept him busy and appreciated in both America and Europe.
Helping him on his way this time comes the second single Dont Be Afraid ., an acoustic flourish, drenched in strings and sparkling piano sojourns with more than a dash of Celtic roots prevailing, boosted by sumptuous choral work by GSGC.
It is however, the stunning There Is A Time that rubber stamps his intentions, while Luka wistfully rolls his Irish lilt. The uplifting and reassuring Im On Your Side swings gleefully with a belting hook, though theres a lot of instrumental subtlety going on, with intermittent pedal ghosting in the background.
This is segued by the tenderest offering on the CD, the drifting ballad I Hear Her, Like Lorelei. Bloom almost hushes his way through which serves to bring empathy to the piece. Then, what should be a UK single release unfolds I Love The World Im In. Drums boom, the acoustic floats and strings and piano loop into action.
At his most passionate, Fire thrusts to frenetic strumming, while See You Soon makes a suitable accompaniment to I Love The World Im In in tone and flavour, with those magical strings leaning in part towards Damien Rice. For purity of song and effect, Everyman reveals itself as the jewel in the crown this ballad is a truly magical song
The verdict: Yummy.
Radio: Hear tracks soon onwrexhamfm.com Weblink:lukabloom.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. There Is A Time
2. Im On Your Side
3. I Hear Her, Like Lorelei
4. I Love The World Im In
5. Sunday
6. Fire
7. When Your Love Comes
8. See You Soon
9. Eastbound Train
10. Everyman
11. Dont Be Afraid Of The Light That Shines Within YouView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.