Ed Harcourt hasn’t always been the breeziest fellow, but his fifth studio album sees him in a slightly less world-weary frame of mind than in his previous offerings. Since his last record, four years ago, he has become a doting father, and while there is still the familiar desperate melancholy running through his lyrics, this time it is pierced by a renewed sense of hope. “Oh please don’t break me from this spell/I’ve found a little heaven in this world of hell,” he pleads on Haywired, before concluding with, “It’s not easy to be happy and get away with it.” Harcourt has always been very skilled at combining bouncy melodies with darker wordplay, and his new long-player displays this. Co-produced by Ryan Hadlock (The Gossip), Lustre is lush, sweeping and beautifully structured, with three-part harmonies courtesy of The Langley Sisters (made up of Harcourt’s wife and her sisters) and handclaps accompanying his piano-led songs. Considering the lyrics deal with subjects such as life in a mental asylum and a stern view of religion, it is a fascinating juxtaposition, and brings to mind Costello and Cohen. Elsewhere, more of the British troubadour’s slightly optimistic demeanour is evident on Heart of a Wolf - a playful, Tom Waits-style knockabout - and on the jaunty A Secret Society.
Even in the album’s weaker moments - and there are a few - Harcourt’s words are always poetic and delivered with honesty and passion. Regardless of whether he is singing through a smile or a frown, Lustre signals a welcome return for this underrated songwriter.
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