Luster by Maria Somerville

The Feature album this week on 2SER is Luster, the second studio record by Irish composer, musician and radio broadcaster Maria Somerville.

Words by Josh Ray

Voice is everywhere on Luster, the fourth album from Irish composer and musician Maria Somerville. This fact becomes apparent exactly forty-five seconds into opener ‘Rèalt’, which, in its sub-2 minute runtime, transforms from a Bowery Electric-esque drone into a gentle, cave-reverb drenched track. Somerville’s voice is as ubiquitous as one might expect from, say, a Julianna Barwick song.

Voice plays a similar role in ‘Corrib’, floating in the background as Somerville sings over the top in her breathy register. The atmosphere in subsequent track ‘Halo’ is similar to that of the album’s opener, where Somerville hums and woos in and out of the song’s instrumental foundation. I’m pretty sure the guitar is the primary instrument here, but I can’t be positive. Like many tracks on Luster, the instrumental is swimming in reverb and delay.

‘Spring’ and ‘Stonefly’ could comfortably be labelled as the album’s most direct and poppy tracks. ‘Spring’, ushered in by its watery riffs, sounds like what you might expect a Grouper song to sound like if she were to collaborate with any of the big (or small) 90s trip hop bands, while ‘Stonefly’ similarly plays on an electronic beat. Despite the former track’s name, I’d recommend playing this in the later half of Autumn and into Winter, perhaps in the warmth of your own home.

Luster’s lush-yet-haunting atmosphere comes courtesy of co-production from Diego Herrera – AKA Suzanne Kraft – himself known for his meditative sonic landscapes. It’s the kind of album you might expect to hear at the Roadhouse in Twin Peaks, soundtracking anything from a dream sequence to a slow dance to a bar fight. It’s a stunningly evocative record of deteriorated post-punk, wistfully coiled soundscapes and sirenic chamber pop. It’s a perfect way to celebrate (if anyone would consider this worthy of celebration at all) the month of May, the final month of Autumn, where many of us might opt to stay at home wherever possible and gaze out the window as the days get shorter and darker. We’re loving it, and that’s why it’s this week’s feature album on 2ser.

Luster is out on digital and physical formats via 4AD records.