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Outside of Hull's Bitmap, main-and-only-man Luke Barwell has many thumbs in many pies: Kid Samson producer, Fonda 500 collaborator, Husband remixer, insane website designer, to name but a few. Within his current band (Salako being his previous), Luke has produced a debut as impossible to classify as a 40-foot sea monster. As well as Luke's ever-present self-harmonies, there are funky guitar riffs to rival any furry animal, bottom-of-the-well chanting that the Beta Band would envy (particularly on the title track), whispered lyrics similar to Kings of Convenience (The Morning Wine) and, overall, the sense of one man hitting his creative peak. His writing technique is simplified to "a melody... scrawled over a looping backbeat [which] disappears as quickly as it arrived" but 'Alpha Beta Gamma' is both a demonstration of Luke's undoubted talent and the reason he is in such high demand.

Ian Fletcher
CWAS #13 - Autumn 2003

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