För ett år sedan fick de flesta artister och kulturarbetare sitt levebröd plötsligt bortryckt när pandemin satte fart och spred skräck över hela jordklotet. För tydligen är det ju så mycket farligare att gå på konsert än vad det är att till exempel handla mat...
Men nu kan man faktiskt skönja något positivt som vuxit fram tack vare de strikta reglerna och de stenhårda begränsningarna: Luka Blooms nya album...!
Luka Bloom var just färdig med sin förra skiva "Bittersweet Crimson" och skulle åka ut på turné. I stället blev han förpassad till sitt eget hem och hade tråkigt. Han tog fram sin gitarr och satte sig på en stol mitt i rummet och började träna skalor på gitarren, under 90 minuter varje dag. Då hände något: Gamla traditionella sånger fick ny inspiration och nya egna låtar växte fram. När orden till möjliga texter uteblev så kom han på tanken att det här kunde ju bli hans första instrumentala skiva.
Det nya albumet innehåller elva helt instrumentala låtar med snitsigt spel och soundet har en "rund" klang på Lukas akustiska gitarr. Gitarren är givetvis i centrum, men det finns även en del andra instrument, som t.ex fiol och lite lågmält komp. Resultatet är en sällsynt harmonisk och oerhört vacker skiva. Den här musiken kommer att skänka stor glädje och genuin harmoni till väldigt många för lång tid framöver...
Konvolutet, som du ser på den översta videon här ovanför, med Hanne Fisker's fantastiska foto är också bland det snyggaste och mest passande man kan tänka sig. Man är liksom inne i det harmoniska tillståndet redan innan den första tonen har börjat ljuda.
Luka Bloom skriver så här på sin hemsida:
"February 6th 2020 was the date of my last solo show. It was in a lovely festival in Geneva. Then the virus came. During 2020 I just surrendered to this new world, and let go of the need to be out there doing the gigs. Steve Cooney had just released his beautiful CD of old harp tunes. I picked up my guitar, and began to learn the beautiful 'Bridget Cruise' from that record. After a few more tunes, I decided to try and interpret the stunning 'Aisling Gheal'. I’ve been listening to Iarla O’Lionaird sing it for decades. Then I tried some classic tunes from Peadar O’Riada, Martin Hayes and Denis Cahill, and then Cathal Hayden. Basically I returned in my mind to the teenage boy in Kildare in the 1970s, sitting alone in a room, playing guitar every day, with no audience. And I loved it. Slowly new, original airs began to invite their way into the instrument, so I added them. Every day for 90 minutes I’d just sit in the same spot and either learn or write a new tune. As the year progressed, I found this exercise most healing, in a year when healing was needed. By October I had about 15 pieces of music. Then the next lockdown happened, and I decided to record this music at home, in the room where all the pieces were written or learned. And here we are in February 2021, about to release my third record in 12 months. My first album of 11 instrumental tunes. No songs. No lyrics. Just music".
"Out of the Blue" kommer enbart att kunnas köpas genom Luka Bloom själv, via hans hemsida. Ett fåtal videos är utlagda på internet, men hela albumet kan endast inhandlas via Luka själv. För 20 Euros får du skivan hemskickad i brevlådan, inklusive porto och allt annat. På så sätt hamnar alla inkomster direkt i Lukas egen plånbok, där det nu börjar bli ganska tomt, när han nu har påtvingat näringsförbud. Och detta fantastikska album är värt varende Euro.
Här är länk till Luka Blooms www-shop. När du ändå är där, varför inte då beställa fler av hans utmärkta skivor och så finns det ju även en otroligt fin bok med låt-texter och stämningsfulla bilder.
Den hejdlöst vackra "Peace on Earth" fanns med redan på hans album "Innocence" från 2004, men den är med även på "Out of the Blue" i en nyinspelad, lite annorlunda version.
En så briljant komposition kan man ju bara inte utelämna...
Translated into English:
SvaraRaderaRare harmonizing music – due to the pandemic...
Luka Bloom - "Out of the Blue" 2021.
A year ago, most artists and other cultural workers suddenly had their livelihoods taken away when the pandemic accelerated and spread terror across the world. Apparently it is so much more dangerous to go to a concert than it is to, for example, buy food...
But now you can actually see something positive that has emerged thanks to the strict rules and the hard restrictions: Luka Bloom's new album...!
Luka Bloom had just finished his previous album "Bittersweet Crimson" and was going on tour. Instead, he was demanded to be inside his own home and he became restless. He took out his guitar and sat down on a chair in the middle of the room and started practicing scales on the guitar, for 90 minutes every day. Then something happened: Old traditional songs got new inspiration and new tunes emerged. When the words for possible lyrics didn't come, he came up with the idea that this could be his first instrumental record.
The new album contains eleven instrumental tunes with distinctive playing and the sound has a "round" sound on Luka's acoustic guitar. The guitar is of course the main character, but there are also some other instruments, such as violin and some quiet backing. The result is a rare harmonious and incredibly beautiful record. This music will give great joy and genuine harmony to many listeners for a long time to come...
The cover art, which you can see in the top video above, with Hanne Fisker's fantastic photo is among the most beautiful and fitting over art you can imagine. It will bring you into a harmonic feeling even before the first note has begun to sound.
Luka Bloom tells us more on his website:
"February 6th 2020 was the date of my last solo show. It was in a lovely festival in Geneva. Then the virus came. During 2020 I just surrendered to this new world, and let go of the need to be out there doing the gigs. I picked up my guitar, and began to learn the beautiful 'Bridget Cruise'. Basically I returned in my mind to the teenage boy in Kildare in the 1970s, sitting alone in a room, playing guitar every day, with no audience. And I loved it. Slowly new, original airs began to invite their way into the instrument, so I added them. Every day for 90 minutes I’d just sit in the same spot and either learn or write a new tune. As the year progressed, I found this exercise most healing, in a year when healing was needed. And here we are in February 2021, about to release my first album of 11 instrumental tunes. No songs. No lyrics. Just music".
"Out of the Blue "will only be available to purchase from Luka Bloom himself, via his website. A few videos are now on the internet, but the entire album can only be purchased via Luka himself. For 20 Euros you get the record sent to your mailbox, including postage and that way all profits will end up directly in Luke's own wallet, where there now starting to get rather empty, now that he's not allowed to work as usual. And this fantastic album is worth every Euro.
Here is a link to Luka Bloom's www-shop. When you are there, why not order some more of his excellent records and there's also an beautiful book with song-lyrics and many nice pictures.
The unbelievably beautiful "Peace on Earth" is already on his album "Innocence" from 2004, but it is also on "Out of the Blue" in a new recorded, slightly different version.
You just can't leave out such brilliant music...
- ArT