Luke Tuchscherer
Album: You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense
Label: The Little Red Recording Co
Tracks: 12
Website: http://www.luketuchscherer.co.uk/

One of the things about the post millennium music industry in the question of what constitutes a release? Many artists, particularly, though not exclusively, those who are raising funds in advance of recording, are carrying soft releases of material for fans at gigs and through their websites before having a firmer release later in the year through media outlets.

There's also a number of advantages, including that the artists starts to make their money back on the album quicker and are still able to reward their fans with cheaper copies of the album as they are selling on their own terms, rather than terms dictated by near monopolies abusing their market position. It also gives the crowd funders their rewards so much quick, especially as Luke gained forty days by hitting his funding target a third of the way through the campaign. I digress.

Just such an artist is The Whybirds very own Karen Carpenter, Luke Tuchscherer, pronounced Tuck-Shearer, who has just soft released his debut solo album, the long titled, "You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense" (Apologies for the Karen Carpenter reference, but with a distinct lack of singing-drummers, I think it's going to be a long time before I can use a reference like that again". Ok I've gone off at a tangent, but the point I'm going to make, is that officially the album doesn't get released until October, but if you go to his website, I'm sure he'll be happy to sell you a physical copy. All of which is a good thing as it will give you a few more months to enjoy his debut solo cut.

One of the main differences between his solo album and his Whybirds role is the instrument choice with drums taking more of a back seat and the acoustic guitar finding its way into his hands rather than sticks. Another difference is the level of countryfication on the delivery, with his solo work taking on a far more Americana feel.

The solo album is a darker work than that of the Whybirds. There's no point in doing something in a different name, if you're not going to make it different and solo Tuchscherer seems prepared to bare more of his soul and get into his inner thoughts, whilst allowing the Whybirds to rock out that bit more and he seems to be very adept at keeping the two aspects apart.

The title comes from a Charles Bukowski novel, so I guess it won't be a surprise that "You Get So Alone At Times That It Just Makes Sense" is an album rich in commentary as well as openness. This is an album to spend some time with and really explore and the good news is that there's a few bonus months to do it in, go for it.

Neil King