Bath-based singer songwriter Luke De-Sciscio is back for a slower, more vulnerable approach to his signature indie-folk sound. With his latest LP, The Banquet, we saw our Italian stallion go for a warmer, more optimistic sound, all thanks to a smattering of smooth bass, brass instrumentation and snappy drums.
Now, just a few months later, it seems De-Sciscio has looked to his acoustic guitar once again and is contemplating heavily about change and how one can achieve it.
As soon as the song starts, the intimate setting given to us is somewhat comforting. In previous efforts, De-Sciscio would sit back and let the music do the talking. However, on “I’ll Die A Little”, he decides to put the spotlight directly on him.
When all eyes are on you (or ears, more specifically), they will pick up on three main things; your voice, your guitar playing, and your lyrics.
Luckily for Luke, he’s pretty damn engaging with all of them.
His finger-pick style of guitar playing and soft vibrato are pleasant to the ear, while his lyrics are potent to the heart. He sings of feeling unable to help others feel hopeful as he himself is hopeless. It’s a touching sentiment and one that is widely felt amongst many other people. However, I did mention at the beginning that these lyrics were “motivational.” That’s because you gotta wait until the midpoint of the track to get those positive affirmations. In it, Luke De-Sciscio sings:
Even devotion knows
It’s hard to play the chords
Give any thief an apple he’ll just get worse
Have you ever known love without the fall?
The floor on your knees at a stranger’s door
It’s the line “have you ever known love without the fall?” that gets to me the most. A beautiful sentiment that asks a very simple question. Simply great songwriting.
It’s also important to note the instrumental changes that happen at this point in the song. The addition of simple drums and electric guitar passages in the left channel add a lot to the previously stripped back acoustic backdrop. It ends up culminating into a rich sounding modern indie-folk that excels in its own simplicity. The song mellows out and slowly exits, ending on the lyric:
Baby, deer roam
Swans fly
Herons nest
I’ll die a little
I think what our protagonist is trying to say is that feeling down and having to reset is just as natural as a deer roaming, a swan flying or a heron nesting. It ends the song on a light note for some, and an existential one for others. Personally, I love the direction Luke De-Sciscio has taken this latest single in and I hope to hear more like it from him in the future.
