Bruce Soord - Luminescence (Deluxe Edition) (2023)

Inspired by the idea of finding inner peace, Soord’s latest solo release explores the difficulty of living in the metropolis of the modern world. Born from days exploring various cities whilst on tour, tracks from the album feature recordings from Soord’s various wanderings captured on his field recorder.

With acoustic guitar at the centre of the album, tracks such as ‘Lie Flat’ appear simple on the surface yet reveal Soord’s unmistakable intricacies throughout. There’s a variety of styles within though. The album’s single ‘Dear Life’ effortlessly encapsulates Soord’s unique sense of poised melancholy, while ‘Nestle In’ flirts with electronica. ‘Olomouc’s rousing strings work against the acoustic backdrop of Soord’s guitar to paint a vivid picture of the stillness that the record describes.

Regarding the single Soord had the following to say: “Dear Life, which opens the record, doesn’t need much explaining. ‘Don’t wish that it will all be over, in the sweetest blink of an eye’. We are always told to not let life pass us by, but it’s easier said than done. And before you know it, it’s done! As my life in particular starts to age, it was an easy subject to relate to. It’s actually sung from the perspective of an elderly parent, on their death bed, to their child.”

Recorded between January 2021 and June of 2023, the album was cut at Soord Studios with additional strings recorded at RAK Studio 3 in London, featuring arrangements from Andrew Skeet, long time member of The Divine Comedy and musical producer of the orchestration on many films/tv shows from Netflix’s smash hit Black Mirror to David Attenborough’s Green Planet and Dynasties II.

The album is available as a limited edition deluxe 3-disc hardback book version that contains two CD’s and a DVD. The second disc contains an entire bonus album ‘Our Ship Sails At Dusk’, featuring material from the writing sessions over the period of Luminescence. The DVD features everything in hi-resolution stereo and DTS 5.1'.

Tracklist
CD1
01. Dear Life
02. Lie Flat
03. Olomouc
04. So Simple
05. Never Ending Light
06. Day of All Days
07. Nestle In
08. Instant Flash of Light
09. Rushing
10. Stranded Here
11. Read to Me
12. Find Peace

CD2
01. The Sound of What Was
02. Close to Me
03. Betrayal
04. Endless Remorse
05. Helicopters
06. Light of the Past
07. The Sins You Know
08. To be Still
09. 3000 Miles
10. For all the good it did
11. What it all Means
12. Our Ship Sales at Dusk