Keeper of the Flame

Irish singer-songwriter Luka Bloom, who’d made a minor ripple with his unexpected cover of LL Cool J’s “I Need Love,” decided to take on an eclectic collection of covers, ranging from Bob Dylan to Radiohead to ABBA for an entire album and did so with equally compelling results throughout. Bloom’s warm, intimate tone brings romantic simplicity to Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love,” a folk sea chanty vibe to the Cure’s “In Between Days,” a forlorn sense of the past in Joni Mitchell’s “Urge for Going,” and a sense of his lighter side with ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.” Bloom doesn’t go in for elaborate re-arrangements; he simply sits back with his swirling acoustic guitar and lets his voice bring the emotional gravity. Even a much recorded standard such as Tim Hardin’s “If I Were a Carpenter” is given a fresh run through that brings together the song’s poignant inspiration, while U2’s “Bad” is stripped to bare essentials with U2’s cavernous approach replaced with gentle acoustics and strings.