Acoustic Guitar: Luka Bloom, <I>Innocence

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Luka Bloom, Innocence

By Kenny Berkowitz

A lot has happened since Barry Moore renamed himself Luka Bloom and recorded folk covers of songs by LL Cool J and Elvis Presley. Over nine albums, his songwriting has grown more confident and his ideas more concise, making the small, spare Innocence his most successful work to date. This is Bloom at his sweetest—playing light-fingered acoustic guitar and singing about love, hope, reconciliation, and freedom, with only the gentlest accompaniment on soprano saxophone, double bass, fiddle, or derbuka (a Turkish hand drum). The net effect is unabashedly romantic, with the warm, soft tones of nylon strings matching the childlike simplicity of the melodies on such songs as “Primavera,” “Venus,” “June,” and the title track. Even Bloom’s more political songs, which sounded so strident in the past, are now filled with compassion. In “No Matter Where You Go, There You Are,” an Algerian immigrant struggles with life in Galway; in “I Am Not at War with Anyone,” the singer sends his love to both Iraq and America, both Israel and Palestine; and in “Miracle Cure,” he offers forgiveness as the solution to the problems of the world. It’s a beautifully relaxed album, perfectly at peace with itself, and grows richer with every listen. (Cooking Vinyl, www.cookingvinyl.com)

This article also appears in Acoustic Guitar, August 2006

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