We featured Luke De-Sciscio as our UK Artist of the Week a while ago and now we’re pleased to say he’s back and with a rather impressive album to boot. Luke’s eclectic release, The Banquet is out now via AntiFragile Music, and to celebrate we decided to take a little look through the album whilst also finding out Luke’s thoughts in regard to his love of vinyl.
The album itself is oozing with colour and life from the offset. Opening with “The Banquet (in GX),” there’s an almost medieval feel to this song. Luke’s distinctive vocal and songwriting style is undeniably impressive and the wonderful introduction to this rather interesting LP.
Talking about his introduction to vinyl, Luke explains, “I was at university when vinyl really got its claws into me. At that time, I was staying in an attic room. We would have vinyl strewn everywhere, haze the room into a thick delirious blur, mumble our way through whatever philosophical revelation we were at the facing forward edge of, and just spin record after record. My staples at that point were basically anything Joni Mitchell, anything Van Morrison. And two moments from across their discographies were pretty pivotal life moments that, to this day, I regard as a pivotal experience music can offer someone.”
You can definitely hear the Joni Mitchell influence within Luke’s songwriting throughout The Banquet. There are a number of sonically alluring twists and turns as Luke is clearly going through some quite difficult and dark times in his life, but for every emotive ballad, there is an uplifting moment, like within “Happy to be Here (I might die tomorrow)”—despite what the name would suggest. Similarly with “In a Moment Just Like This One,” the cocktail of instruments utilized can really transport you into another era, which is just lovely.
Luke continues, “We have all the ingredients, second by second, to recognize that life is a temple and our moments are God. So, I think music is a key to that. And doing music the justice of preservation, or affording it physically, that goes—or at least went—some way in my recognition that this here, and songs, are the divine. The quintessential life force, given voice, locked in plastic, and given reality by each unflinching soul who dares offer their voice to that inexplicable, intangible, and ephemeral expulsion of meaning that can come from a heart unguarded, searching in oblivion for love. Purpose. Elevation. Value. Or truth. Vinyl is a reminder that we are brief , and that songs transcend us, existed before us, and will out live us. It’s one of life’s beautiful visual metaphors and I am a disciple at the church they offer.”
Oozing with mesmerizing and cathartic moments, Luke’s The Banquet is a powerful collection of emotional vignettes that are not for the faint hearted. From the dark undertones of “Baby it’s okay, I’m here, wake up” to the cheerful treasures of “Uninspired Tripe,” this LP will take you on a journey of self-discovery—and reflection.
The Banquet is in stores now and available on vinyl here.
