Luke Hirst
Album: Farewell Adventures
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 8
Website: http://lukehirst.bandcamp.com

Its always good to see a young musician one admires develop their style and repertoire whilst at the same time gain respected admirers - in this case none other than Michael Chapman whose enthusiasm ensures that the expletives are certainly not deleted!

Consequently it has been an absolute pleasure for me to witness the continued emergence of Luke Hirst as a multi instrumentalist, songwriter, and on the basis of this download, bloody good fingerpicking guitarist and instrumental composer.

First coming to award - winning prominence in his duo with cellist Sarah Smout, Luke has gone on to play with the band Eskimo Fandango and appear solo at a wide range of venues around Yorkshire and beyond and I have heard nothing but good from these outings.

The playing on all the tracks on this download helps to explains why the above plaudits are justified. The music is incredibly fluid and seamless, tunes are inventive and, though some elements of over repetition do creep in, for the most part there is sufficient contrast within the pieces to hold one's attention. All the more impressive is the fact that all the tracks are live takes and only two of the eight are not first takes.

'The Coming of St Columba in 563' opens the album with a bold strummed statement of intent which immediately grabs the attention before subtle variations lead to an intense (perhaps a little too intense) coda. From then on until the last track (my favourite the gentle 'Last Light On Dun I') there is a good mix of styles, though North America clearly has the strongest influence on the sound.

Its a brave move to release a purely instrumental album this early in a career but I think Luke has pulled this off admirably. At only £3 for the download you have nothing much to lose and much to gain!

Joe Grint