Lucas Renney – Strange Glory

Better late than never, I say. A friend sent a link via twitter last night, she had fallen in love with singer/songwriter Lucas Renney‘s wonderful song She gives me the chills, having heard it on BBC Radio 2′s The Radcliffe & Maconie Show. Listeners had voted for this track to be played every day for a week. Good taste, people!

So I idly follow the link and oooh mama, I went a little bit weak at the knees. This is just the sort of music I love to play late in the evening, cwtched up on the sofa with dog(s) and laptop.

And we’re not alone in our admiration.

Killian Fox at the Guardian:

Before Lucas Renney became lead singer of the Golden Virgins at the start of the decade, he trained to be an English teacher. The Sunderland band has since ceased to exist and Renney, instead of returning to teaching, has gone solo. Academia’s loss is folk music’s gain. In his captivating debut album, Renney, who counts William Blake as an influence, uses common lyric material – the Sun, the sky, the approach of night – to uncommonly beautiful effect. The simplicity that makes his songwriting so resonant is mirrored in the music, produced by Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins.

James McMahon at the NME

Gently-does-it genius

You’ve heard of the pink pound. Now, produced by Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde, with session backing from Midlake’s rhythm section, comes a record in pursuit of the kind of beige pennies people who wear tank tops spend on ATP tickets. Or not. Like a hand grenade hidden in mashed potato, the genius – and make no mistake, songs such as ‘These Same Stars’ are genius – of this singer-songwriter’s debut, is that beneath the plucked acoustic melodies and above the lush Cohen-esque instrumentation, is a brutal, barbed wit. In layman’s terms, ‘How I Wanted You’ is basically about wanting to fuck someone else more than the person you’re actually fucking. It’s that kind of dank emotional honesty that will garner a few quid of the metallic stuff.

I’m not going to stream a track here because I haven’t bought the album yet (budget deficit not interest deficit!) but have been listening to all the tracks available on Renney’s MySpace page and I have to say, I is in luuurve with his music. Roll on the end of the month!

Which of you will like his music? Well the dog for sure. I’ve not had a chance to discuss it with him because time differences and busy schedules mean that we’re like ships that pass in the night at the moment – as he’s heading off to the land of nod, I’m burning cooking supper. Dave will definitely like him and Sinny? Hmm, not sure. But think so.

Go on, have a listen and come back and tell me you’ve gone straight to your favourite music seller and ordered Strange Glory and (like me) are sorely tempted to also spring for Golden Virgins’ Songs of Praise…

Update: The cheapest I’ve found Strange Glory is from the record company, Brille – £7 for the cd plus £1 shipping to the UK; just £2 shipping to Qatar. Bargainaceous!