BLUE LUMINAIRE
Terroir (Bella Union)
Although Nick Martin, aka Blue Luminaire, grew up immersed in primarily classical music, their debut album Terroir has fragile beauty and goosebump moments that recall artists such as Brian Eno, Max Richter and Sigur Rós. Indeed, Eno (alongside 19th-century Russian composers) was a formative bedrock to the younger Martin, more influential than the pop music that filled the airwaves whilst they were growing up.
Martin sketched out Terroir whilst working as a cleaner and assistant at a Copenhagen music hall; here, the artists who performed on its stage were as inspirational, having free reign to play and create with the hall’s piano on nights when the venue was closed. As it happens, Terroir was recorded a couple of years later at the same venue, with 14 instrumentalists and a sound engineer, and as well as being incredibly moving, this album offers an authentic aural escape route from the dark night of the soul.
words DAVID NOBAKHT