Luka Bloom’s Sweet Dreams

“I DON’T want to go near a studio for a while. I’ve made enough CDs over the last year or two and I just want to go out and play.”

What a difference a year makes. Luka Bloom had an embarrassment of riches on the souvenir table when his show pulled into Greenwich Village last summer. His CD of acoustic covers, Keeper of The Flame, gave new meaning to bedrock tunes from Dylan and Marley and provided the Dubliner with another hit. His live CD, Amsterdam, provided his fans with something they’ve been praying for: a recording of the elusive flame that ignites his spirited live shows. 

With so much new product to tour behind, the dark confines of the studio would be the last place you’d expect to find Bloom.

What a difference a year makes.

After years of punishing his hands with intricate, aggressive melodies in his live shows, Bloom became stricken with severe tendonitis. 

“All I could manage was a very gentle picking of my Spanish guitar,” he writes in his liner notes. “I became fond of it, and began to feel very relaxed with this style of playing.”

So back in the studio he went, and emerged with Before Sleep Comes, a collection of gentle lullabies played out of necessity. His hands sidelined by his condition, Bloom is forced to relearn his delivery and reinvents himself by creating a softer side. Leave it to Luka Bloom to make a powerful statement out of a hushed whisper. 

The disc has been a staple in this reviewer’s CD alarm clock for the bulk of the weekend, and I can tell you that it is the perfect companion as the sandman comes-a-callin.’ With songs like “Camomile,” “Be Still Now,” and “Before Sleep Comes,” its not hard to see what this disc is all about.

“I feel like he’s singing next to me,” said the drowsy missus tonight as I typed this review in the bed beside her. She’s got a point. The hushed intimacy is a joy to behold; with its simple packaging and non-existent promotion, it feels like Luka has made a record just for your nightstand. 

“This is a CD of non-performance,” he writes in the liner notes. “It’s purpose is to help bring you closer to sleep, our sometimes elusive night friend.” 

“I would climb the high high tree and would rob the wild bird’s nest/I’d bring back my singing bird/to the arms that I love best,” he whispers on “My Singing Bird.” 

These are lullaby songs for adults, stripped of the saccharine that usually sweetens the kids’ stuff that spews from Raffi’s guitar. 

I take that back. OK. You got me. I’ve sung “Shake My Sillies Out” with the best pint-sized singers in the backseat. Didn’t mean any harm by that, Raffi. You rock!

Anyway, Bloom successfully avoids the soggy premise of some New Age recordings to make a melodious whisper brimming with personality. The acoustic plucking of the traditional tune “She Moves Through The Fair” transforms the melody into a Spanish dreamscape. It is one of the many instrumental interludes in this nine song CD, and it is the crowning achievement on this beautiful collection. 

There was a time when the differences between Luka Bloom and his famous older brother, Christy Moore, were like night and day. Bloom’s intense finger picking and wrenching vocal delivery enabled the singer to bust out of the shadows of Moore, who has abandoned his hard drinking trad past for the comfortable acoustic rocking chair in recent years. 

Moore makes the same impact as his brother with his hushed phrasing, indicating that Bloom might have taken a page from the back half of his older brother’s songbook.

On tracks like “My Singing Bird” and “”I’ll Walk Beside You,” it is hard to tell the difference between the two brothers. Age might have finally caught up with Luka Bloom, but he wears it well; the instrument in his throat is displaying a seasoned depth to match the thoughtful, gentle strumming that makes Before Sleep Comes a quiet masterpiece. 

For fans worried that tendonitis might rob them of their beloved singer, you can sleep easy tonight. Rumor has it that the singer will be back on the road here in the States in the next couple of months. In the meantime, Before Sleep Comes is exclusively available through the singer’s website, accessible by browsing over to www.lukabloom.com  . Sweet dreams!