Luke Buda – Vesuvius

"This solo album by Buda of the Phoenix Foundation (which has a cast of many, PF people included) is certainly ambitious. It is mostly widescreen pop which unashamedly doesn't shy from a Beatles-like hook, or deploying lap steel to fine effect – as well as conjuring up the innocence of mid-60s pop or the melodic expansiveness of the 70s – although no artists from either of those periods ever wrote a song entitled Empty Eyes, Generous Thighs (which, incidentally is not a comedy number but boasts a sensitive melody).

This is often lushly presented (it is produced by Lee Prebble who has done everyone from Trinity Roots and the Black Seeds to the Phoenix Foundation and Steve Abel) and on songs like My Imminent Demise (video below) there is a gloriously uplifting quality rare in New Zealand music.

This feels like a real album of the old style: it has mood shifts between the tracks but a sense of coherence, and each song stands on its own merits.

Buda is on record as professing an admiration for 70s pop and that is clear in many places here, but he also adds a touch of widescreen country-rock. Downbeat, layered, intelligent and with a big heart that will lift you up."

Graham Reid
NZ Herald 5/5 Stars