Long-awaited sophomore album from Cambridge singer-songwriter, Luke James Williams – “The James Taylor of the Fens.” Limes Hotel traces questions of morality, belief, connection and the quiet work of piecing yourself back together after loss.
A NEW CHAPTER
We’ve been looking forward to this one, in silent anticipation. Cambridge singer-songwriter Luke James Williams – the “James Taylor of the Fens,” as he’s known in certain quarters – has been causing quite a stir during the run-up to the release of his sophomore album, Limes Hotel. For a start, a string of singles have heightened anticipation of what Luke has been brewing and, just this week, the man himself took time out to grace the At The Barrier pages to explain his devotion to PJ Harvey in our Why I Love column (here).
Limes Hotel represents a bold step into a new chapter for Luke James Williams. The album is an intimate collection of songs rooted in Nick Drake-influenced contemporary folk, but which incorporate a wide range of other influences, textures and tonal shifts. The album’s eleven songs emerged from a period of grief that followed the loss of two of Luke’s close friends. The songs trace questions of morality, belief, connection and the quiet work of personal rebuilding after loss. Yet, the overwhelming emotion that listeners will experience after hearing these songs is one of renewal, with what Luke calls: “…new shoots reaching up towards the sun; the hope and promise of new life rising from the darkness.”
INACCURATE NARRATIVES WE TELL OURSELVES
A passage of fluid fingerpicked guitar introduces Saints in the Trees, the album’s opening track. The song’s eerie atmosphere is intensified by a baroque string arrangement and Luke’s gruff, sinister, vocal. Luke’s lyrics: “The saints in the trees will steal the clothes straight off your back until you, in exchange, will be rewarded with safe passage” recall an encounter with a statue at Anglesey Abbey in the village of Lode in Cambridgeshire – and they serve as a chilling warning to stay away from that vicinity…
Described as: “… a meditation of life after death, built around the rustle of real twigs and leaves to create an autumnal forest floor atmosphere,” Seeds is the album’s lead single and it’s one of several real highlights. The spirit of Nick Drake is strong and there’s a passionate intensity to Luke’s delivery, a sense that’s magnified by the light percussion and the throbbing bass that underpin the song.
There’s no let-up in the intensity as Luke moves onto Strange Things We Are – “… a reflection on the cruel, inaccurate narratives we tell ourselves.” Luke’s voice takes on the tones of Seth Lakeman and the percussion-heavy backing gathers strength and momentum as Luke delivers lyrics like: “What will you learn? What do you expect? Next time this man has his hold around your neck.”
VAUDEVILLE SWING
The mood becomes smoother and calmer for Ends, the second of the four singles to preface Limes Hotel. It’s another album highlight, with a tone of sincerity creeping into Luke’s voice as he picks his nylon-strung guitar. Harmony vocals from Luke’s friend, Dear Wife (aka Hertfordshire singer-songwriter Louise Essex) are just about discernable. A sonorous piano adds a few notes and the occasional bursts of strings shimmer. And the song’s warming coda: “It all comes around when you’re no longer gaining ground, when every end of every third is one again” leaves the listener in a daze of pastoral contentment.
Flicker of Light – “a stream of consciousness song” – was inspired by a friend’s encouragement to “live life your way and always be true to yourself.” It’s Luke’s lyrics that matter most here, and his voice is placed front and centre as he advises: “Don’t be anyone else and don’t be afraid of yourself,” and the sole acoustic guitar that accompanies his words is all that’s needed.
The slow-building, ultimately Beatle-esque Knocking for Reasons is another excellent song. The reflective mood, evident elsewhere, is carried over into the song’s opening passages, before a vaudeville swing creeps in when a brass section arrives and Luke cranks up the passion and the volume. It’s a song with a grand singalong ending, as we’re urged to recognize that: “If I can convince myself of all this, all of the time, I’ll be alright.” Oh yes – and “You can move the goalposts if they’re in the way they’re just jumpers, anyway” is, surely, the best couplet on the album!
INTENSITY AND DARKNESS
Written after a tragic loss by a family in Luke’s home community, Village Green is, without doubt, the most intense song, on an album that is riddled with intensity. Luke’s lyrics: “It’s a sight that no mother should see – a child lifeless amongst the leaves on the Village Green,” are well-considered and thoughtfully delivered. And the accompaniment – initially just a strummed acoustic guitar – grows as the song goes on, drawing the listener into a state of unavoidable concentration.
Speaking of Ready, a song that captures a moment of suspended time at a family gathering, Luke says: “This song is about all the people I’ve lost and those I will inevitably lose at some point.” It’s another song that’s perfectly suited to a pared-back accompaniment, with Luke’s guitar enriched by an occasional flurry of strings. Dear Wife’s harmony vocals are an uplifting feature in a song that is, otherwise, deeply introspective.
Along with Village Green, Milk and Medicine is, perhaps, the album’s darkest song. Described as: “… a fable about the things we consume without question,” Luke delivers his lyrics: “Show some deference – you’re making a fool of yourself and your secrets” to a pulsing guitar rhythm and sprinkles of synth. And, it’s clear from the expression in his voice, that he means every word…
ELEGIAC, CELEBRATORY
Full Moon is the most recent of the four singles to preview Limes Hotel and it’s the album’s rockiest track by some distance. Luke recently described Full Moon as: “… about the dangers of not knowing where to stop in our pursuit of what we want,” before going on to explain: “Gluttony can lead people to do very stupid things that put themselves in grave danger. The hunter becomes the hunted in this part-fable, part cautionary tale.” It’s a fast, chugging, number with Luke back in his Seth Lakeman vocal persona and the song builds relentlessly before relief arrives in the form of a coda that channels both Kate Bush and Yoko Ono.
It’s always an excellent idea to save the very best until last, and that’s precisely what Luke has done here. Hollows and Branches, another of the preview singles, is the song that brings the varied strands of Limes Hotel together and wraps them into a neat, tight, bundle. The song has a sad message, but there’s an elegiac and – ultimately – celebratory sentiment, too, especially when it comes round to the sway-along payoff: “I still don’t know where I’m heading but I hope the waters aren’t this rough again. When I’m long from this world, too far to be seen, in the hollows and branches you’ll find me.”
LUKE JAMES WILLIAMS – ON TOUR
Looking back at Limes Hotel, Luke says: “I hope this album shows a songwriter unafraid to lay bare and confront the questions and emotions that make us all human. I’m a big swirling mess of ugliness and beauty, light and dark, just trying to make sense of it all. These songs have lived in my head for a long time, so I can’t wait to set them loose on the world for people to hear, interact with and make their own. Especially at the moment – I hope the rawness of these songs acts as a bit of a salve for what’s going on in the world.”
My advice: listen to Limes Hotel, then read that statement again. I promise that it’ll make absolute sense.
Luke James Williams will be taking Limes Hotel on tour this spring. You can catch him at the following venues:
- Wednesday 6th May: The Harrison, London;
- Friday 8th May: Mary Street Live, Sheffield;
- Thursday 14th May: LTB Showrooms, Coventry;
- Friday 15th May: Wax and Beans, Bury;
- Friday 12th June: Junction J3, Cambridge;
- Thursday 23rd July: South Mill Arts, Bishop’s Stortford.
Luke James Williams: Website