REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk

 

 


 

 

 
Lucky Luke

LUCKY LUKE - Patrick the Survivor
Invada Records INV014

There is a delectable sound emerging from the central belt of Scotland at present -the like of which has not been heard since that mysterious lost period in folk music at the tale end of the sixties and early seventies. A time when artists such as The Incredible String Band and Vashti Bunyan broke the rules and dared to mess around with the formula of conventional folk music, transforming it into something that sounded exquisitely weird.

Today, this remarkably fresh sounding music is being conjured up by an eight-piece ensemble from Glasgow called Lucky Luke. Coming together in the late nineties, the group are made up of an assortment of talented musicians who have honed their skills while playing in several bands in and around the city. Based around the songwriting of guitarist Simon Shaw and of harmonium and concertina player Morag Wilson, they have managed to produce a debut record of timeless beauty.

There’s genuine warmth, and a sense of community spirit shining bright throughout the nine songs present on the album. This feeling is particularly evident on ‘Fear Eats the Soul’. The tune opens with some magical flute and bouzouki playing, before suddenly bursting into a joyous tale of friendship and encouragement, concluding with the whole band joining vocalist Lucy Sweet in singing the lines “Dancing and kissing/the best things are free/don’t be reclusive tonight my love/I think I am falling for thee”. This is undoubtedly one of the most gorgeous songs that has flowed out of the British Isles in a long while.

Clocking in at a near perfect forty minutes, ‘Patrick the Survivor’ is the sound of an open minded collective of young musicians connecting wondrously to create music that sounds like very little else around right now. Just please don’t allow this to become another ‘lost album’, the same way as many other folk gems have gone before.

Stuart Ross

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