Album Review: Luke De-Sciscio - 'Sublime'
Folk singer-songwriter Luke De-Sciscio concludes a 2020 trio of releases with new album, ‘Sublime’, due for release 11th November.
‘Sublime’ is the third instalment in Luke De-Sciscio’s ‘Folk-Boy Trilogy’ and seese De-Sciscio plummet onto the British folk scene in full-force this year. The first album, ‘Good Bye Folk Boy’, saw De-Sciscio paint songs in warm tones, intimate and up-close. The second album, ‘Eucharist’, was meditative, and the delicately reverbed songs hovered mid-air as though floating above an open field. Then, finally, ‘Sublime’ is the perfect ending. Ascending higher towards the sky with each project, ‘Sublime’ feels like flying under the bright, white sun.
Opening with the track, ‘Casuals’, we get intricately finger-picked acoustic guitar accompanied by De-Sciscio’s thoughtfully laid out vocal melodies; a perfect introduction in letting us know what’s to come along the way.
‘40 Days’ feels like drifting through landscapes through dreams, given the nature imagery in the lyrics: the desert, water, and streams. Ironically, one of the lines is, “Regurgitate like a catchy song”- this being one of the catchiest songs De-Sciscio has put out to date, with its pretty classic-songwriter-ballad melody.
‘Dream State’ finds the singer steadily climbing up into his higher register, adding to the sense of ascension that this album offers. But it by no means ends here. The track to follow, ‘I Gave You All My Love’, shows De-Sciscio reaching heaven-level vocal heights not many male artists would dare to attempt. He goes for it with full confidence, and it pays off. It’s the hardest-hitting track here, essentially being about the pure passion you pour into a person you love.
Some of the most beautiful moments come when a track begins or ends, and we hear the back-and-forth between De-Sciscio and a girl in the same room. Tailing the showstopping ‘My Love Abounds’ is a segment where he jokes that he’d messed up the recording, or completely forgotten to press record at all. Opening the final song, he puts on a funny voice and says “You crazy, girl”. Amidst an album full of tunes that sound like ascension, heaven and light, it’s these moments (and the often powerfully raw displays of humanity in the vocals) that ground the project.
‘Sublime’ shows us that two things can be true: love is both the most spellbinding feeling, and yet the most humbling and honest, too. Be sure to check this album out- a strong contender for one of the best singer-songwriter projects we’ve heard all year.
Words of Curtis Saunders