It’s not often that I get to describe a musician as urbane or indeed, to welcome the return of a piano man like Glasgow’s Andy Lucas yet his album “Burying Bones” gave me cause to do both.
In terms of the modern music scene, this album would have to be regarded as something of a curio. It features such oft forgotten ingredients such as musicianship and a tidy collection of wry, if often downbeat, lyrics that owe more to poetry than the handholding of a thesaurus. Not really an album of today then but technology, as the crumbling music business of today proves, isn’t everything.
The songs contained within the confines of “Burying Bones” effectively demonstrate that Andy Lucas is prepared to work hard for the money, or your money should you have the good taste to imbibe of his sonic refreshment, with a strong sentimental streak evident throughout this album. Sure enough, “Side by Side” and “Hours” do indeed have the potential to be the soundtrack to a montage in some Hollywood chick flick but there is more to our Mr. Lucas. There is, for example, a playful side to him with “Gypsy” taking an urbane – there is that word again – take on road rage that might even cause you to join in on the chorus.
Andy Lucas may well have a rather downbeat take on life as if beaten down once too often by circumstance yet this approach is really no more than a reflection of the times that we live in and, whilst he might portray himself - in song at least - as something of a victim, he has enough ability to put a song in your heart just like the one he has in his own. That makes “Burying Bones” a welcome return.