Songwriter Luke De-Scisicio creates timeless music, emerging from the Southwest of England having seemingly been writing songs all his life. A special and striking young talent, Luke's lyrics read like poetry, set to music that disarms in its simplicity.
Today, De-Sciscio has announced his debut full-length album, Good Bye Folk Boy, will arrive in North America March 13, in time for Luke to make his U.S. live debut at The New
Colossus Festival and SXSW. CLASH premiered the album's first single, "
I'm A Dream Fighting Out Of Man" stating, "with its potent, cyclical acoustic guitar line underpinning Luke De-Sciscio's dexterous word play, he paints the most vivid pictures, somehow both soothing and strikingly emotional."
While it's the follow-up single, "
R.O.B.Y.N.," is an ode to his partner, "vital" to Luke's songwriting process. "It just wouldn't have been the same if she wasn't in the room," Luke says. "It's like having a mirror, and music isn't a solitary thing. People share external spaces and internal spaces. Robyn and I reflect each other. That's what love is." - watch Luke perform "R.O.B.Y.N." live for
BBC Music 'Introducing'.
Good Bye Folk Boy Track List:
01. Winsome
02. Plumb Loco
03. R.O.B.Y.N.
04. I'm A Dream Fighting Out Of A Man
05. Spin On
06. Told You
07. Two Way Doors
08. Smaller Flames
09. I May Never Fall In Love With Everyone
10. Baby, it's okay, I'm here, wake up
11. New Skin
De-Sciscio was born and raised on the outskirts of Swindon. He spent his youth roaming around Stanton Country Park, daydreaming, fishing and writing songs. "My dad used to call me 'Tom Cat', because I only used to come in for food," he says.
Introduced to the guitar by his grandad, once a guitarist in the Royal Air Force band, Luke began writing and recording music in his teens. "My theory was that I knew what I wanted to do, so I just got on with it," he says.
He moved to Bath, where he met Robyn. As time went by, the couple found themselves owners of a 100-year-old canal boat. It may sound idyllic - and it was, mostly - but it was also tough - no electricity or heating, and a different mechanical problem to contend with each week. Nevertheless, it did give Luke the space to explore his guitar-playing and perfect his songs, jettisoning the confines of his influences and any muddy notion of what he thought he should sound like.
"It was damp, and difficult, but life on the boat was also magical," he says. "That was when I first heard guitar playing properly. And life became very slow and very focused. When there are so few other distractions, everything changes. We neglected everything but the boat and each other for that first year. It was so slow and so pure."
It was only for the fact recording music became too challenging on board that the couple headed for dry land.
While adapting to new surroundings took time, song writing talent such as Luke's doesn't disappear. He has, after all, written at least an album's worth of songs every year since he was 16. At 27, he now has significant experience to draw upon, not to mention a catalogue of work that would shame most veterans.
"I suppose it was always just a way of charting my own evolution," he says of the now-hidden recordings. "It was never about releasing them or 'making it' - my belief is that if you're creating something you love, you have already made it. And I just knew that I would go crazy if wasn't writing."
Another belief was that his songs would reach appreciative ears, even if it took a lifetime to happen. "I have never chased success or promoted myself. Who knows where my music can go? For me, it was the creation, and the belief that if people needed my music, it would find them."
Anyone discovering Good Bye Folk Boy will be met by music that sounds as if it arrived in a dream. There's a focus and an intensity to songs such as "Winsome," "Plumb Loco" and "Two Way Doors," but the homespun production - or absence of production, to put it another way - gives each of the 11 songs a breezy quality that is impossible to replicate.
Tour Dates:
02/02 - Bath, UK @ St. James Wine Vaults
02/07 - Hay-on-Wye, UK @ The Globe
02/11 - Geneva, CH @ Salle Saint-Gervais (Antigel Festival)
03/12 - New York, NY @ Bowery Electric Map Room (New Colossus)
03/13 - New York, NY @ Arlene's Grocery (Birp.FM New Colossus Showcase)
03/14 - New York, NY @ Pianos (New Colossus Day Show)
03/15 - New York, NY @ Pianos (New Colossus)
03/19 - Austin, TX @ Milk Studios (SXSW)
03/21 - Austin, TX @ Lazarus Brewery (SXSW)
04/02 - London, UK @ Dalston Set (UK Record Release Show)
04/24 - Bath, UK @ Chapel Arts
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