Yes I know, he dropped the word ‘simply’ from his name. I’m just lazy and haven’t updated the database. Leighfield, for me, is a bit of a musical prodigy. He writes and records more songs than I take shits. He’s more prolific than Didier Drogba in a Chelsea shirt. And boy does he get around – 150 shows this year and counting. If anyone deserved the success it’s Luke simply (no pun intended) because of the work and effort he puts in.
But I’m like a yo-yo in my love for him. His early work suffered by some poor vocals, but these were ironed out on ‘Garde Ta Foy, Garde Ta Foy’ which was nigh on perfect piano pop. ‘Fan The Flames’, for me, isn’t quite as convincing. There seems to be a stronger accent on show which I’m not mad keen on, leaving his songs sounding like a strange Kate Nash/Sam Duckworth/Rocket Summer hybrid. Simple songs littered with some little used instrumentation (is that really a sax solo in ‘Hope’? And if it is did Kenny G play on it?) the formula is a very basic one. And it works. Luke’s cute little songs are delicate and he uses his fragile vocal well. He knows he’s not the strongest vocally and doesn’t flex his vocal muscles unnecessarily.
However, I think he’s better when he’s more upbeat and some of the slower tracks on this record tend to drag. ‘Home’, for instance, is a lovely song but a little on the dull side. And with all of his quirks I think Luke is a better singer/songwriter when he’s more chipper. With all that said he’s getting more and more plaudits with every week that passes and if he consistently writes good songs there’s no reason why he can’t follow Sam Isaac into the bigger leagues. This isn’t as good as the last album in my opinion, but it will still win over a hell of a lot of people.