A Warm Introduction From Luke and the Second Coming
Pittsburgh’s Luke and the Second Coming has released their debut self-titled record. The record is romantic and easy to listen to. The songs prioritize simplicity while not being lackluster. They describe this album as a tasteful throwback of soft rock–which I’d say is fairly accurate.
The album starts out with “Sun Don’t Shine”, which sounds straight out of the end credits of an early 2000’s coming-of-age movie. Although the lyrics are a bit cliche, the song is fun and could easily get stuck on repeat. It’s one of those songs that sounds fun until you listen to the lyrics and then realize it’s about something a little more serious than you thought. (Still danceable anyway).
The second song “Cut” starts the romantic vibe that the album keeps throughout the songs. The song seems to be about finding your other half, the person who “fills the hole” in you. This song has a similar feeling to the first song, with that sort of young-love theme, where you really give your entire self to someone regardless of flaws.
“Live Forever” makes use of perfectly-blended harmonies throughout the entire song–like the entire vocal track has a similar backing harmony. The guitars seem to mirror this kind of effect, too. This one seems to be about not needing someone and metaphorically speaks about “living forever” without someone. I think the vocal harmonies here kinda give a clue to the meaning of the song–or at least how I picked up on it–your importance is not measured by one person but by many (and a lot more than an ex-girlfriend). This song was released as a single prior to the album release and has already garnered over 8k streams.
“I Know I Know” seems to be the counterpart of “Cut”. In addition to being fairly similar songs, in “Cut” the lead singer uses the metaphor of being the key to someone’s lock, which gets repeated in this next song. This sort of seems to be the grown-up version of the song that came before, where this relationship comes to a point where you cannot ignore the flaws anymore–from both parties. The song falls in energy at the end, signaling the ending of the relationship, but it dies out in a sort-of unsatisfying way. Overall though, the song was pretty and made great use of vocal harmonies again like in “Live Forever”.
One of the most intense songs is “Make Sense”. It is definitely the most true-rock song on the album, with growly vocals, edgy lyrics, and a catchy guitar solo during a breakdown. I love the vocals on this song, with the intro featuring a softer, even falsetto feature from the singer, then flipping into a strained kinda yelling when the drums come in. The drums are artfully placed in this song, cutting out at just the right parts to create a dramatic effect. This is probably, in my opinion, the best song on the album.
“On Fire” is an unexpectedly angsty song, and another great one. The song begins very soft, with the chorus coming in with vocals similar to “Make Sense”. This song is about losing yourself, and knowing you need to find your flame again. The passion in this song shows through the recording. The singer seems to promise himself that he’ll “be on fire again” over and over, especially at the end of the song, where the instruments drop out, and it is sung one last time with one note left ringing in the background. This is a powerful way to end a song about resilience, seeming to metaphorically say that they won’t give up. This is another one of my favorite songs from this album.
On the track titled “Middle Name” the coming-of-age romance-type vibe returns. This song reads as a conversation between two people entering a new relationship and telling each other about who they are. It’s another simple and romantic song.
“Leave Tonight” features a female vocalist telling a hopeful love story. The contrast between the higher and lower harmony reminds me of a happier “Remembering Sunday” by All Time Low. The song leans into the pop-punk “leaving my small town” theme when the female singer has a solo in the first verse of the song. She talks about needing an escape from wherever she is, which she seems to find in the other voice. This song reminds me a lot of something that would be on a playlist of mine from middle school in the best way possible.
I think “Do Better” is a fantastic song lyrically (also featuring female backing vocals similar to “Leave Tonight” at the end). The lead of this band has no issue making his words clear and heard (which is a lot more difficult than you may think) and has maintained it throughout the album. I love the nuance of the opening lyrics: “I could tell you we were made for each other, but that is too easy and you deserve better”. The singer realizes the cliches he’s thinking about in his head and knows that the person he’s with is more special than that. The song lacks build in the same way truly comfortable relationships do; there doesn’t need to be anything intense because it fulfills itself.
The album closes with a song called “Warm Light”. This is the slowest song and the most reminiscent of that 90’s Goo-Goo Dolls type soft rock. This is also the longest song by far on the album at almost 5 full minutes. This song is inspirational, slow, and comforting.
Overall, this is a great debut album. Although I think the band could benefit from some experimentation to make their sound a little more original, this album definitely shows hard work and dedication to the craft by the members. This is a great summer album that you can blast with the windows down on the way back home at night. Definitely worth the listen.