Turf
Irish native Luka Bloom recorded his third U.S. release,Turf, in Dublin's Windmill Studio, a big, rock'n'roll room. Except for a harmony vocal on one song and an audience sing-along on another, all the sounds are created by Bloom's booming, deep tenor and driving acoustic guitar. Engineers and coproducers Paul Ashe-Browne and Brian Masterson have turned these simple ingredients into a big, lustrous sound that recalls Chris Isaak's moody, hermetic ballads. Unfortunately, the mesmerizing sound of the album is squandered on the narcissistic musings of an overly sensitive young man. Even when he sings about the plight of the Aborigines in Australia or the blacks in America, he seems to be talking to himself in a humorless, private meditation.--Geoffrey Himes