Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The term interesting has become almost a slogan for the bored and the easily distracted, it has lost the meaning of requires further investigation, of complete concentration and focus on the task or the artistic assignment ahead. In many ways, it is has become its own antonym in the same way that the English language is fluid, so too can words misguide and change.
Spiritual Songs For Lovers To Sing by LUH (Lost Under Heaven) though is exactly what the word demands it to be, it is fresh, a motivational piece in which boldness strides and fascination beckons with a smile and the come hither finger of the attractive seductress. If interesting is meant to be attention grabbing then the word regains its rightful place and makes LUH’s album exciting and wholly acceptable to be seen with at all the best parties.
Ellery Roberts and Ebony Hoorn take the feeling of spiritual and give it a home in which it is much loved, the sound of on beat vocals almost catching the spirit of Ginsberg’s Howl, no grand illusion, no dishonesty or false pretence to be found in the strident musical narrative, all there is a sound that creeps into the veins and starts plucking at the imagination.
Tracks such as Beneath The Concrete, Here Our Moment Ends, the superb Lost Under Heaven and First Eye To The New Sky are forceful, demanding and truly interesting, they catch the ear and give it the hardest of tugs, the lobe pinched, the eardrum falling in love and the shiver of what is to come From LUH is palpable and extreme.
Interesting is too short a word and a phrase but it frames completely what the listener can expect, to be stimulated and invigorated by the music on offer, a cool and exciting album. An album that rages with the heart of maturity, Spiritual Songs For Lovers To Sing is enthusiasm made real.
Spiritual Songs For Lovers To Sing is released on May 6th.
Ian D. Hall