Concert Review: Luke Elliot Pours His Soul Like Edgar Allen Poe
Happy to be back from Europe, Luke Elliot, backed by a band of Norwegians, hailed Mercury Lounge NYC as his home. Blessed with a rasped and porous voice, Luke Elliot’s songs felt like “Springsteen rock”; rock n’ roll opuses presented like they were written epically by Mozart, but all about “some guy” in the city of life exploring every alley and road for what wisdom it offers.
Elliot’s is like the Don Draper of voices. It is handsome and with a whiskey in hand; smoking through the prose of songs “Ballad of A Priest”, “Trouble”, and “Let It Rain On Me”. Each song has a lyrical nature that makes its words dance with instrumentals as if they were in a gala rather than a recorded track. Yet, despite the stringed vastness of his sound, filled with mandolins, electric guitars, and banjos, everything falls onto Luke’s bond with his keyboard. Although Luke arose for some “Spanish-flared”, guitar melodies, it is when Luke is sitting in front of the keys that you see the heart behind his tracks. He closes his eyes, as if to envision the very night he wrote his songs. He travels back to the surroundings and memories that inspired them, which makes him appear more like a man sitting at a table to write angry and love letters to the past, present, and future. As you watch him whisk away the ink of his emotions, the audience becomes the window of the room. He only looks into the crowd for brisk moments of wonder. The result is an atmosphere that blends Edgar Allen Poe vibes with, again, some Bruce Springsteen rock. Similar to the rocker, Luke Elliot has some strong “stans”.
Sometimes, artists do not understand fans, despite, being a fan themselves. Yet, as I saw people close their eyes and rock themselves back and forth as if Luke Elliot’s music was their father cradling them, I felt a step closer to understanding the magic of fans. When you connect with music, like Luke Elliot’s, you swear you have learned a little more about life. Whether it be grief or joy, love or hate, glory or loss, the point is that that artist/ song taught you something about the world that you were missing. Luke Elliot’s music can certainly be a teacher your life. For More Information On Luke Elliot Click Here.
