Lucas Shine Reviews:
"Once upon a time there were a couple of bands, Subduing Mara and Miracle Legion. The latter gained a tiny bit of notoriety for its warm, eccentric folk rock; the former seemed known only to a handful of perceptive critics, despite a couple of albums' worth of high-quality rootsy guitar rock. After those bands gave up their respective ghosts, Mara singer/songwriter Peter Hutchison and Legion guitarist Mr. Ray Neal got together to form Lucas Shine, issuing a beautiful record called Exquisite Corpse not long afterward. (Amazingly, what sounded like a fully realized record was, in fact, a set of demos.) Then…silence. Or so it seemed—in reality the band had retreated from the world of the micro-indie label that released its first album to the brave new frontier of self-releasing; thus, the second Lucas Shine record No Cure For Life. As with Exquisite Corpse, No Cure For Life is full of moving, melodic songs given intimate, emotional performances. Sonically the group presents sedate, guitar-powered arrangements that take various roots/Americana sources and make them sound like introspective pop music; the tracks are styleless in the best way. Unfailingly memorable, the gentle-but-firm melodies hold hands with heart-on-sleeve performances. Remakes of Exquisite Corpse highlights "Don't Know What I'm Doing Here Tonight," "Wrong Again" and "It's Yours" grab the attention immediately, but newer tunes like "Sweet" and "Wear It So Well" are easily the equal of those mini-masterpieces. The centerpiece of the record is frontman Hutchison's soulful singing; he holds back nothing in his performances, but never goes anywhere near the top, let alone over it. It's hard to imagine his songs performed by anyone else as well. It's astonishing that Lucas Shine can be so consistently good and yet be so underappreciated; consider this a wake-up call to give the straightforward songcraft of No Cure For Life the chance it deserves. - High Bias
