"Lustre" - released via his own Piano Wolf label - is Ed Hercourt's fifth album: a romantic, epic, glittering set of pop songs.

The albums artwork shows Harcourt with his wife and daughter, huddled on a beach under a foreboding sky. Both his wife and daughter are key to Lustre, the former as the leader of The Langley Sisters who provide backing vocals throughout the record, the latter as the subject of the touching album closer "Fears of The Father".

The birth of his daughter, also, made Harcourt write far more personal material, and "Lustre" positively glows with the resonances of deep emotions amid often glorious pop tunes.

We have a very different album here. Harcourt himself says: "If my last album was weighed down, this one is a buoy. It floats". He's spot-on.

"Lustre" is an extraordinarily uplifting album. Harcourt's world-view has clearly shifted. Not much -- but within a messed-up world, Harcourt is concentrating his gaze on the brighter, shinier moments.

"Please don't wake me from this spell", he sings on the album's second track, "Haywired", "I found a little heaven in this world of hell".

"There's a sense of cohesion to the album, which opens with a clutch of songs up there with the best from his debut. The title track is a lovely, slow-burning slice of general observation that is both pretentious and touching, backed by sighing vocals from his wife's band, the Langley Sisters, and soaring strings". - M.Cragg

"Harcourt is a singer of uncommon charm, and "Lustre" is a welcome reminder that when he's on top of his game - which he is for roughly half the record - you'll want for little else". - James Skinner

Despite its promising start, the album sags a little in the middle with Harcourt indulging, not for the first time, his love of Tom Waits: it's almost like the idea of the songs becomes more important than the songs themselves.

At times, with his songs still located somewhere beween Jeff Buckey, Randy Newman and Coldplay's romantic balladry, the 32 year-old sounds in his comfort zone...

All in all, from the title track opener to the closing "Fears of a Father", this is a crafted, skilled and impeccably attired adult pop album, which "takes on a kind of cinematic joy where Harcourt the long-suffering vampiric troubadour steps into the light and shines".

My favourite tracks: "Haywired", "Do As I Say Not As I Do" and "A Secret Society".

A 'MUST' listen!

You won't be disappointed.

(Copied in part from my comment to *apricots & jazz's* excellent review)

I mostly agree with Harcourt's "weighed down - buoy" comparison except for the fact that Lustre still has those touches of melancholy I've loved since I heard his track "This One's for You" (Strangers). I think Harcourt's ability to write about the sadder, darker aspects of our thoughts and emotions without having it take over is one of his gifts, really. After listening to him, I usually end up feeling more like, "Yeah, life's like that sometimes," and I'm able to keep on keepin' on. I'm not a quivering mess o' depression or anything. Thumbs up for that alone!

Lustre is worth a listen, no doubt about it.

I saw Ed Harcourt open for James a year or so ago. I liked what I heard, but I couldn't hear it that well. Many times at a concert, the sound is so loud that I couldn't really hear what the music is suppossed to sound like. At this concert, the levels for Ed's voice were very quiet an indistinct. Still, I was impressed with the parts I could make out, so I bought this album at the venue and haven't listened to it since.

I popped it in today, and was blown away at his voice, the compostions, the production quality, everything. I wouldn't really compare this music to anything else, although sometimes it reminds me of a more inteligent Coldplay.

I love Ed Harcourt's reverent, occasionally witty reflections and I was excited to hear this album. However, it seems to lack the originality of earlier releases and is drenched in a level of sentimentality that leaves it lacking any bite. No track seems to stand out from the rest and I was left feeling like the album never really got off the ground. It's not a terrible album but it is nowhere near the standard that was seen on The Beautiful Lie, Strangers or Here Be Monsters.

Recently wrote a review for Ed's previous album saying how he is a bit like strawberry ice cream...well, this album shut me up. It's a lighter happier bouncier Ed (is that his family on the cover?) Anyway, whatever he's taken he's soudning fresher than he has since his first two albums. A welcome return (did he ever really go)