Luka Bloom - Album Review
LUKA BLOOM - BEFORE SLEEP COMES
Big Sky Records
SWEET DREAMS
As a child, who didn't love being snuggled in bed with a loved one to sing you to sleep?
The delicious feeling of hanging on the cusp of sleep until the music carried you over. As adults, we now have a champion of
insomniacs everywhere in Luka Bloom and his latest release,
'Before Sleep Comes'. While most performers would be offended if someone fell
asleep listening to their music, Bloom expects you to!
At nine cuts and around 30 minutes it is perfectly constructed to carry the listener on a liquid journey of melody and vocals to
sweet, sweet dreamland. In fact, there really should be a disclaimer, warning listeners NOT to play this CD while operating
a vehicle or any sort of machinery. Luka conceived of this project while recovering from a bout of tendonitis. Restricted to
playing gently on his Spanish guitar, he found he really enjoyed this style of playing (or non-playing, as he puts it). As he
says in the liner notes, "I began to play ballads and soon found myself singing and writing whispery songs."
Over the course of a couple of late nights at The Old Mill near Naas, in County Kildare, Bloom, quietly and superbly,
put together the tracks for this recording. A combination of tunes, original songs and familiar ballads, the entire
project glows like the embers of a warm turf fire on a bitter winter night. In fact, my only complaint was, that on three
successive nights of trying to listen to the CD, I was dead asleep by the third cut. Luka said that is precisely how
he envisioned it working, and boy, does it!
The resonant guitar, gliding melodies and Luka's languid vocals combine to instill a warm, gentle trance-like state.
He includes traditional ballads such as 'The Water is Wide', 'Nora' and a velvety instrumental of
'She Moved Through the Fair'. Original work is highlighted by the title track, 'Before Sleep Comes'.
A soothing balm to any psyche, it perfectly portrays that moment of total peace and calm before sleep comes.
It is further enhanced by very subliminal bird calls underneath the track.
"There's a moment of surrender
just before sleep comes
I turn over my life's business
to the God of the setting sun
Sweet, sweet dreams..."
I defy anyone to make it past this track unless in a vertical position by light of day!
'Be Still Now' is almost Zen-like in the message
and word-pictures created by Bloom.
"...I watched the heron watching me
and thought I heard him say
just be still now, wait a while
and let life come to you
just be still now, all your dreams
are on the breezes passing through..."
Another original piece, 'Camomile', invokes the sleepy
warmth of waiting by the stove, warming up a cup of camomile tea while the stars glow in the night sky.
Bloom has a talent for creating scenes of life we have all shared, without becoming smarmy or overdone.
His ear for melody has created an intimate, unselfconscious gift of music and song that is unique
and utterly irresistible.
With lovely, understated mastering by Brian Masterson, this gem of a CD may be the answer to sleepless
nights for all music lovers. Available only through Luka Bloom's website: www.lukabloom.com.
Warning: LIKELY TO BECOME HABIT-FORMING. DO NOT LISTEN WHILE DRIVING!
Sweet, sweet, dreams.
--- Cindy Reich
Celtic Connection, Denver, Colorado
April 2004