The past five years have been quite a rollercoaster ride for London-born singer-songwriter Luke Sital-Singh, who embarked on a Transatlantic journey with his wife to live the Californian dream in Los Angeles five years ago, before returning to the UK. This brought highs such as the recording of his last album Dressing Like a Stranger as well as road trips and happy memories of the outdoor life in sun-drenched landscapes; and lows such as the pandemic and the struggle to start a family.
The result is Sital-Singh’s first self-produced album, curated over a lengthy period without looming studio deadlines and fed with the wealth of his emotional experiences. He plays most of the instruments himself, with contributions from other artists who have, since Covid, created their own recording set-up within their homes. In short, Fool’s Spring is deeply personal.
Sital-Singh’s aim towards a more upbeat style often clashes with the dark, melancholic tone of the lyrics, reflected in the title of the album – ‘Fool’s Spring’ is a short period at the end of winter when the temperatures rise, creating the illusion that spring has arrived, only for winter to make an abrupt return.
Fool’s Spring cycles through a whole host of emotions with fantastic instrumental backings and vocal layering. ‘Still Young’ is a palette of insecurities and self-reflection, interrupted by bold flashes of music like light temporarily breaking through the clouds; and ‘Firefight’ acts as a metaphor for inner conflicts and how constantly putting out these inner fires prevents us from believing in ourselves and realising our dreams. Here, there are some particularly poignant moments when the music drops away to leave Sital-Singh bare and vulnerable.
‘Nothing To Do In LA’ and ‘Santa Fe’ – the latter a guitar duet with the wonderful Irish solo artist Lisa Hannigan – both mourn the LA dream that didn’t work out as Sital-Singh and his wife hoped, centring around a sense of loneliness and defeat and, in the case of ‘Santa Fe’, delivered with beautiful soaring lyrics brimming with pain.
‘Cruel World’ is perhaps the darkest track on the album, for though the happy day Sital-Singh foresees in this song did in fact come about when his wife became pregnant, it focuses all the disappointment, sadness, and struggles of the past years into one sharp point.
Through the shadows of Fool’s Spring, we are offered fine silver linings by means of brighter rhythms, yearning chord progressions – or declarations of affection, apparent in the tracks ‘You & Me’ and ‘True Love’, in which Sital-Singh draws on the strength given to him by his wife, his anchor in a swirling sea of troubles.
A new chapter has begun in the singer’s life, with new challenges and new hopes. Fool’s Spring seems like a cup into which Sital-Singh poured all the conflicting emotions and darkness of the past few years – and now it feels like he is ready to put that cup aside and mark a new musical chapter, too. In his own words: “I used to think: I need my sad songs. But that side of me, at least for the time being, has died… a bit. I enjoy music that has a big smile”.