Demos

Luke Donovan - Demo

Liam McGrady 09/08/2006

Rating: 3/5

As I write, the rain is lashing at my window, propelled by gusts of wind more common to deep winter than late summer. Seriously, if I were in any way religious I'd be gathering up as much scrap wood as possible and calling for someone to round up a few pairs of animals. As it is I'm just sitting feeling slightly morose, dragged down by the weather, drinking my umpteenth cup of tea of the day.

Now there's one of two ways to go in your musical selection on days like this. Either you choose something suitably rustic, and warm, and big sounding to make your room like some kind of safe, snug cocoon - maybe a bit of Scott Walker - or you go to the other end of the scale and plump for some cheery, sunny scamp of a record to blast away those autumnal blues; and this is where a certain Luke Donovan comes in.

'A Better Boy' has the sort of melody that somehow reminds of more carefree times, a naïve, staccato acoustic guitar that hops, skips and jumps merrily like you used to way back, when the sum of your worries was getting enough money for a pack of football stickers; and you didn't have a wallet, keys and a mobile phone weighing you down (remember?). And the boy Donovan can sing a bit too.

On 'How Will It End', his delicate vocals drift over the Sufjan Stevens type arrangement of woodwind and piano like mist across a lake on a cool, crisp morning; spinning lovelorn tales (“You need some things to make and do/You can't go on/ You're up and down again/Your heart beats faster when/ She lifts up her window”), and on 'He's Been Loving Her Too' his hushed tones nicely balance out the jaunty nature of the rest of the track.

Okay, the songs Luke Donovan crafts don't exactly send a shiver down the spine, or create a tingle in the skin, but they do lift the spirits a bit on a rainy day.

Luke Donovan Myspace