"Foreign Language" Album Reviews

"LUKE VASSELLA - FOREIGN LANGUAGE (SELF-RELEASED) - 8/10

Into the mix of music emanating from the verdant hollows of the north coast comes Luke Vassella, a virtual unknown hailing from Woodberry, who should not remain thus for very long. Even though the songs bear the scars of alt-country, Vassella is unashamedly Australian in his lyrics and in his wry, soulful delivery, aided by Christian Pyle’s smart production.

Vassella’s gift lies in his sincerity—with his deep blue tenor he hints at wrecked lives. The first track, ‘Emotion Talking’ is beautiful in its simplicity and ‘Grand Hotel’ is enough to have you avoiding eye contact for a moment as you ponder the fate handed down to its central character. Persistent themes of motion and destiny recall Damien Jurado’s folky travelogues, squaring with Vassella’s claim that the songs are his way of “trying to make sense of circumstances”. It sounds to me like he has a greater understanding already."

 

LUKE VASSELLA - "Foreign Language" (Independent)

There's a certain Neil Finn quality about Luke Vassella, and not just in the tone of his voice but in his innate sense of melody and harmony. The former is particularly evident on Satellites while the latter is there on the opening track, Emotion Talking, of this latest release from the Lismore-based singer songwriter. And just because he's from rural NSW doesn't mean Vassella must necessarily have a country sound, though he skates dangerously close on Til The Sun Shines and Sweetest Mystery, even when he writes about a truckie, as he does on the haunting The Grand Hotel. Instead, the song is imbued with the languid pain of a disenfranchised father wrapped in an aching acoustic ballad and vocal/pedal steel wash of sound, recalling perhaps a polished up Neil Murray.

All of which makes Vassella something of a subtle wildcard in a scene bursting at the seams with acoustic singer songwriters. I mean, he's not anything wildly different, but just different enough. While he's chosen to do the solo thing live, just a guitar, stompbox, and a bag full of songs, Vassella opts to give his songs a "band" entity on Foreign Language, and has found the perfect collaborator in musician and producer Christian Pyle to add the right balance of band textures and open space, allowing the languor of loneliness, memories of love, loss and home and wistful hope to seep into the tracks. Foreign Language isn't a life changing album, but it's a quiet, thoughtful listening pleasure from someone who obviously thinks and feels deeply without demanding a PhD of his audience to understand and empathise with his small tales of ordinary lives (Maria), and small town tragedies (Floodtown) or Vassella's observations on, to use one of his own song titles, the nature of a man. And after all, that's the brief really.

- Michael Smith, The DRUM MEDIA, Sydney, 16th August 2005

 

LUKE VASSELLA – Foreign Language (Independent)

Solid fourth album of country-tinged pop. If you’ve ever wondered what Neil Finn would sound like if he got into country, here’s your answer. Lismore singer-songwriter Luke Vassella has a voice eerily close to that of Mr Finn, but his music is full of dust-caked guitars, weeping pedal steel and burbling organ. Fortunately, Vassella’s solid songwriting and Christian Pyle’s textured, thoughtful production stops Foreign Language from descending into hokey down-home cliché. From the evocative, slow building opener Emotion Talking ( everything that isn’t turning grey is turning brown/I wish it wasn’t like that) to the ghostly pedal steel and impassioned delivery of the affecting ballad Maria, Vassella acquits himself well in all departments. He even drops the country entirely and does a “total Neil” on the anthemic pop tune Satellites."

- Brett Collingwood, RAVE magazine, 28th June 2005

"...For the new Cd, Vassella and producer Christian Pyle, have created an absorbing collection of heartfelt songs in the tradition of Neil Finn and David Gray. With an emphasis on atmosphere and lyrical depth, this is an album well worth checking out from an artist with his feet on the ground, his head in the clouds andd his hand on his heart..."

- Kim Cheshire, COUNTRY MUSIC MUSTER UPDATE, July 2005

 

"LUKE VASSELLA - Foreign Language (Independent)

With [Foregin Language] Luke Vassella proves there’s more to Northern New South Wales than stoner funk and hippy folk. While based in folky songwriting traditions, Vassella embellishes his tunes with lush production and country-flavoured instrumentation (pedal steel, mandolin)...

[Track 1] 'Emotion Talking’ is lyrically personal and builds to a thrilling climax, while ‘Keepin On’ chugs at a steadily rocking pace from the outset. Later, the mood slows with the pedal-steel-soaked ‘Grand Hotel’ and ‘Nature of a Man’. Themes of travel and internal conflict dominate Vassella’s lyrics, which never veer into corny or trite territory. The general feeling among the songs is a Crowded House meets Pretty Violet Stain vibe.

Broadly speaking, they’re good tunes married with top-notch production values and intriguing arrangements. Already something of a household name on the North Coast, Luke Vassella should expand his audience further with this release. 3.5 stars.

- Sarah Jones, Time-off, June 15th 2005

"Luke Vassella's latest independent album, Foreign Language, is more than a release of strong original tunes; it's a showcase of the gentle beauty of Luke's voice. Guitar-backed ballads, a little country, a touch folky, a pick through life's bare bones with a troubadour's grace."

- Tabatha Fulker, Northern Star, May 13th,2005

"Produced on the North Coast by Christian Pyle, it includes performances by some of the area's best musos. The production by Pyle is excellent and the contributing musicians have created the perfect canvas on which this artist can paint his images. Luke reckons that 'Foreign Language' is his best work to date...I can only agree."

- S.Sorrensen, The Northern Rivers Echo, May 12th,2005