Send "Ed Harcourt " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Allmusic |
 Ed Harcourt's 2010 album Lustre is a sweepingly romantic, epic, and sparkling collection of tunes that finds the British singer/songwriter ruminating on true love, money issues, and parenthood in a way that only a man who has found his place in the world can. Always a brooding type, Harcourt certainly clocks some serious vampire time here -- there's even a song titled "Killed by the Morning Sun" -- but there is a bright-eyed optimism to these songs that lifts them from the shadows. From the title track on, it is clear that Harcourt is less concerned about his own sad-sack misery and more about the redemptive qualities in his lover's eyes. He sings "Lustre when your worries are lonely/Lustre on the sweat of your lip/But lustre never shines in the final scene when sticking to the script/And I see lustre in your eyes." A similar sentiment is voiced in the grandly romantic "Haywired," where Harcourt explicitly details how his wife saved his life. He sings "The self-destructive don't believe that there's a crisis they can leave and then I married you." Then, at the three-minute mark, Harcourt, backed by thumping drums, shimmering piano, and little analog keyboard swells, delivers the album's clearest imperative: "It's not easy to be happy, get away with it." The song, much like the rest of Lustre, is aching and triumphant all at the same time. Throw in such driving and blinding melodic pop moments as "Do as I Say Not as I Do," where "trees are bending over to make room for the moon" and where Harcourt apologizes "to all the people that I might have offended it wasn’t that intended/I hope we can amend it," and Lustre takes on a kind of cinematic joy where Harcourt the long-suffering vampiric troubadour steps into the light and shines....full text |
| Drownedinsound |
| Ed Harcourt has always felt deeply; when he sings about being in love, you really believe he is in love. The Beautiful Lie had quite a few moments that were serious-serious. The Russian Roulette EP was fifty-fifty serious-serious. Sometimes feeling that deeply is a bit overwhelming for the listener. Looking at some of the song titles on his latest album, Lustre - 'Do As I Say Not As I Do,' 'Killed By The Morning Sun,' 'Church Of No Religion' - there seems a great risk of Harcourt coming across as heavy handed in the same way songs like 'You Only Call Me When You’re Drunk' and 'Good Friends Are Hard To Find' on his last full length outing were too intense to digest easily. But Lustre seems to be a real step forward for Harcourt in many ways. He is as in touch with his emotions as ever, but has learned to temper his darker sentiments with more light-hearted compositions. It allows him to convey his confidences and doubts, loves and longings with a respectable sincerity, rather than feeling like he’s told you more than you really wanted to know. The overall tone is lighter than previous outings. Harcourt has captured the sense of whimsy that he only played with on earlier efforts, in the form of flutes vaguely reminiscent of 'I Am The Walrus' and a proliferation of female backing vocals. manages to stray away from the world of the earnest singer-songwriter, while staying a safe enough distance from the pop world to keep his indie cred. The aforementioned 'Do As I Say,' for example, is full of hand claps and “ooh-oohs”; it’s jubilant and joyous and - praise be! - not even a little preachy....full text |
| Guardian |
| You could get the wrong idea from the cover of Lustre, which depicts Harcourt, his wife and their young daughter huddled against an apocalyptic sky. The Sussex brooder's first studio album in four years is reflective and occasionally darkish, but he's apparently too entranced by fatherhood to be properly morose nowadays. These full-figured songs have ambitiously big arrangements that reference Phil Spector, and, on a love song to his daughter called Fears of a Father, a sliver of Roy Orbison's stately melancholy. Wife Gita's band, the Langley Sisters, contribute yet another texture to what's already a rich mix; their girl-pop vocals are delicious on the jaunty Do as I Say, Not as I Do. But while emotionally fulfilled, Harcourt has bile saved up for, among other things, "the nanny state", religion and "boys with their guitars who milk lachrymosity" (see what he did there?). Very satisfying....full text |
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