Luka Bloom

Eleven Songs

(Bar/None)

Record Review by Kevan Peterson

Luka Bloom seems comfortable and confident in the type of music he wants to make.  Nothing too loud or overbearing, nothing too glossy or over produced.  Just simple ballads centered around vocals and guitar.  “There is a Time” opens the album, which could just as easily be an anti-war song as a love ballad.  These kind of dualistic lyrics are not easy to come by or create.

“I’m on Your Side,” picks up the mood slightly with a bright and cheery underpinning, but this is quickly undone by the melancholy sounds of “I Hear Her Like Lorelei.”  These kind of ebbs and peaks are the staple of Luka Bloom’s Eleven Songs, keeping the listener on their toes, for although the style of music stays more else less constant throughout the album, the mood varies like the temperature moves with the seasons.  Just a few degrees of change can have a massive effect on the outcome.

“I Love the World I’m In,” offers one of the more interesting percussion tracks, getting into a steady groove that allows the instruments to meddle around with a bit more free form interplay than on previous or subsequent tracks.  All of the scattered instruments align for “Sunday” which falls back into familiar territory, but emerges as perhaps on of the more enchanting tunes on the album.

“Fire” gives Luka Bloom a chance to rock out as much as his acoustic guitar will let him, with a simple rhythm and redundant lyrics.  The song does manage to be one of the hotter tracks and so is appropriately named, as it sounds the most radio friendly, despite it’s one time use of another four letter f-word.  “When Your Love Comes,” offers the calmness to put out the previous fire, with chilling piano that haunts the track. 

The remaining tracks pulse with the same calmness and confident vocals as their predecessors.  Not one to take many risks, Luka Bloom has delivered a consistent album that offers a solid musical experience.  It won’t take you to places yet undiscovered, but it will allow you to enjoy what has been set before you.  Why would you expect anything but an album that is straight and to the point from a man who named his record after the number of tracks it holds?