It’s been a while for Irish singer-songwriter Luka Bloom, but over the last few years he’s been doing some deep thinking. This varied collection features a richer, fuller guitar sound and songs about both the GFC and the recent nuclear crisis, as well as memories from Bloom’s rural childhood and an Irish/English reconciliation song. If all that sounds a little too heavy, there’s also a magnificent partly spoken word tune called ‘The Ride’, which is a joyous rumination on the pleasures of clearing the mind and cycling through the Irish countryside.

Paul Barr is a Music Specialist at Readings Carlton.