Ed Harcourt
Ed Harcourt is one of Britain’s most celebrated singer-songwriters, having released a number of albums and gained critical acclaim across the board. His fifth and latest album, Lustre (2010), reflects his multi-instrumental and eclectic indie sound, which has often seen him likened to Tom Waits and Jeff Buckley. His songs are “so intuitive and instantly familiar, it’s as if you’ve been humming them for years” (BBC Music).
Ed was signed to big-budget record label EMI aged just 23. His debut album Here Be Monsters (2001) was heralded as “a welcome return to the kind of erudite, melodic styles championed by the likes of Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman in the 1970s” (the Guardian). His sound often veers between orchestrated pop, minimalist ballads and Britpop/rock songs, however Ed says that Lustre is more a ‘growing-up’ album, having recently split from EMI and also entered the world of fatherhood: “It’s so personal, it’s like an open letter to what was, when I wrote it, an unborn child. It’s saying I’ve changed a lot…I’m a bit more Zen about things, whereas I was a lot more hot-headed, knee-jerk, reactionary.”
“A singer of uncommon charm…when he’s on top of his game, you’ll want for little else.”
BBC Music
Links:
- Ed Harcourt interview in the Independent
- Review of Ed Harcourt’s Lustre, by PopMatters
Video:
Ed Harcourt sings ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ from new album Lustre:
