Luke Haines - Adventures in Dementia

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 14 / 3 / 2015

Label: Outside Music
Format: CD

intro

Incomprehensible new mini-album from the Auteurs and Black Box Recorder’s Luke Haines

Luke Haines first came to public attention as a member of David Westlake's 1980’s band the Servants, before he formed the Auteurs in 1991. After this he began a succession of other projects, including Black Box Recorder, but for the last few years has focused on a solo career. ‘Adventures in Dementia’, his latest offering, lasts just under fifteen minutes, As a stand-alone EP/mini-album, I don't think it works. It's a micro opera, which is meant to tell a story within the songs. The lyrics are decent enough, but without a lyric sheet in front of him or her the listener is left scratching their head. As a performance piece it probably works better. It is loosely based on a stupid story about a Mark E. Smith impersonator and a skinhead wanting to kill him. That starts to become apparent on the self-titled last song, but getting there proves lyrically very odd. The standard ‘Jerusalem’ is given a fresh paint job. ‘Caravan Man’, the opener, is a 50's rock and roll number and is the best track on this, while ‘Regeneration’ is full of raw punk fury. A national treasure, Luke Haines is still going the extra mile, but it's just understanding him which proves the hard part here.

Track Listing:-

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