https://www.rrr.org.au/subscriber-giveaways/maria-somerville-lusterCloses 4 May 2025, 11 pm
Win a copy of AOTW "Luster"
Luster is the second album from Irish singer, composer, and broadcaster Maria Somerville, and her first release on the iconic 4AD label following 2019's self-released debut All My People. Songs combine atmospheric dream-pop and shoegaze elements with touches of Irish folk instrumentation and ambient textures.
Recorded between 2021 and 2023, Luster emerged as Somerville returned to Connemara after years spent in Dublin. The move shaped the album's creation. Themes of nature, home, and the passage of time are woven into the record, with lakes, gardens, water, and waves recurring in lyrics and titles, mirroring her reconnection with the landscape.
Speaking with Sam Cummins on Press Colour, Somerville described the creative environment of the region as a "really fertile ground for making this new work," enabling everyone who worked on the album to experiment and "follow ideas in a more intuitive way."
The tracks were first written and demoed in a studio overlooking Lough Corrib, before being developed with a close-knit group. Contributors include the experimental artist Olan Monk and producers Henry Earnest and Finn Carraher McDonald (Nashpaints). Los Angeles musician Diego Herrera (Suzanne Kraft) produced 'Garden', adding its distinctive bassline, while violinist Margie Jean Lewis adds to the interlude 'Flutter', and uilleann piper Ian Lynch of Lankum provides drone textures on 'Violet'.
Opening track ‘Réalt’ introduces listeners to the soundscape through birdsong and gentle synth drones, while the single ‘Projections’ offers wistful vocals over fuzzed-out bass and lightly strummed guitar chords. And throughout, Somerville grounds her ethereal compositions in the Connemara landscape. Field recordings, such as ocean waves in the closing track ‘October Moon’, provide a sense of place to the album's dreamlike textures, connecting the music to her rural roots in western Ireland.
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