Album Review: Ed Harcourt – Lustre
2 min read
Lustre is the fifth album for singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt who proves that being away for four years holds no crippling effect for musicians who can produce records like this.
The Londoners last offering was 2006’s The Beautiful Lie.
Lustre offers a lot in terms of creative songwriting intellegence as well as Ed’s perfectly crafted musical ability, providing the integral piano base to the record.
The albums angelic choir opening of Lustre sets the first feel of whats to come with the scenario of poetic lines like Lustre from the ruby red blood on my hands when you pull out all the thorns, paired perfectly to memorable melodies, taking the front seat.
Throughout the record you can hear and feel the passion that has gone into its creation with thought provoking numbers such as Church of No Religion raising queries over religious beliefs.
The album is very ‘to the point’. Nothing is unspoken or left to ambiguity on Lustre and that’s what makes this an incredible record. Haywired is the perfect example of this. I found a little heaven in this world of hell Harcourt sings as he pours his heart out in homage to finding true love.
There are also overly intimate tracks like the harmonious Lachrymosity and the closing Fears of a Father that are moving with its accompanying choir joining Ed in a story of accepting responsibility and owning up to fatherhood.
Killed By The Morning Sun is another song close to an art-form. A story of Parisian reminiscence. The acoustic guitar over a gentle piano score this is the best track on the album.
Lustre is a record that is raw and carries itself without aid. Harcourt’s style is similar to fellow heavy weights like Rufus Wainwright or even the great Leonard Cohen or Tim Buckley but he maintains originality a creates a sound completely his own.
In a world of ‘here today gone tomorrow’ pop music and musical selling-out, Ed Harcourt proves with Lustre that original, thought provoking and intelligent creations build from a foundation of a passion for songwriting overpower even the heavy weights of short lived pop music.
It’s a performance very far from lack lustre.
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