Luke Buck

NEW YORK CITY | December 15, 2017 – New York’s singer-songwriter Luke Buck comes forward with a emotional and soulful indie rock/pop ballad today, titled “Winter”. It’s a beautiful yet heartbreaking single of finding yourself lost and alone at the end of the relationship. “Luke Buck taps into the season’s looming sluggishness as a cathartic escape, pinned with withering piano and strident trumpet, on his melancholic new single ‘Winter,'” shares Bsides & Badlands who hosted the premiere.

The reality comes as harsh as the winter chill, with lyrics digging deep, “It’s Wintertime here in Brooklyn and you have left me alone again. The sun goes down so early, it’s like it’s setting just for me.” With moving and melodious piano and accents of jazz trumpet, the single will tug on your heartstrings; a strong reminder that the seasonal festivities aren’t always full of joy for everyone.

“Winter” comes as a direct follow to Buck’s latest EP All These Things released earlier this fall. Inspiration for the single came during the recording of the EP, after a new relationship failed. Buck shares, “I totally immersed myself into recording my EP All These Things to cope, and it worked. For a while. I was too busy to deal with the emotions fully. But the day she told me she met someone new was a punch in the gut. It wasn’t fair to expect otherwise, but you know, it still brought up some repressed feelings. I sat down at my piano again and “Winter” started to come out again, but this time with a renewed meaning and feeling behind the words.” While Buck recorded his signature vocals and masterful piano playing, he called on friends Cass McSparin (back-up vocals), Jed Nimitz (bass) Mike Irwin (trumpet) and Robert Mitzner (drums) to take the track to the next level. “I knew I wanted to record it immediately to capture that feeling, so we tracked piano, bass, and drums together in the live room at M&I studios in Hell’s Kitchen. Their room has such a warm tone – exactly what I wanted for this record. The trumpet was such a strong addition to the song it made its way out of the choruses and solo and spread into the intro and verses to became the key part to the entire song.”

Buck is already working on his next set of songs and plans to hit the studio in early 2018, with a new set of material. “Winter” is already a strong step forward for this singer-songwriter’s sound, and he views this progression as only natural. “I don’t think people are just one thing, they are a mess of contradictions and emotions, so it makes sense that the music I’m making sounds different each time. Hopefully listeners will embrace that about me because I don’t see that stopping anytime soon. Ultimately I’m making music for myself, both for fun and for a coping mechanism, and I hope people will join me for the ride!“

Buck also released his brand new All These Things Deluxe 12″ Vinyl this week. Side A contains the All These Things EP and Side B has his band, Luke Buck and the Stops Here‘s Live to Tape at Degraw Sound: the ALL THESE THINGS session. Physical copies are available for order now via his website.

If one set of vinyl wasn’t enough, Luke Buck will be performing a live-to-vinyl session at Leesta Vall Sound Recordings (Brooklyn) on December 19th. Each take is cut direct to 7″ lathe cut vinyl record containing a one-of-a-kind take of a song specifically by order. No two records will be the same and only one copy of each will be made. Pre-order copies, with individual song requests, can be made through Leesta Vall’s website, with an estimated ship date of December 20, 2017.

Join Luke Buck this Saturday, December 16 at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 1 in New York City (8pm; free, event details). He will be performing his new single “Winter” live and have copies of his All These Things Deluxe Vinyl available for sale. “Winter” is available for purchase and stream on Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify, and all major digital retailers now. - Behind the Curtains media

Winter brings dwindling sunlight, colder temperatures, penetrating gloom and crippling seasonal affective disorder, which plagues more than three million people every year. The impending anguish is nearly inescapable, fraught from fading colors, icy windswept barrenness and a foggy psychological state. Lo-fi, alt-rocker Luke Buck taps into the season’s looming sluggishness as a cathartic escape, pinned with withering piano and strident trumpet, on his melancholic new single “Winter.” The singer, songwriter and musician is listless, reclining brazenly into the tune’s drowsy arrangement. “It’s Wintertime here in Brooklyn and you have left me alone again / The sun goes down so early, it’s like it’s setting just for me,” he sings, setting the stage of lonesomeness and doomed angst. “You’d think that by now I’d learn to not trust / It’s not for you and me, just please don’t go / Please don’t go…”

His songwriting is appropriately unfussy, scrawling the universal emotions of sorrow and apprehension with ease. “But everyone still goes away in the end, and I’m left alone here to pretend / While the air outside can’t grow much colder, and I’m not getting any wiser / I’m just getting older, and older, and older, and older,” he yearns. His voice is perfectly imperfect, grainy even, and wobbles as uneasily as heartache itself.

“Winter” comes on the heels of his All These Things EP, released earlier this year. “I was too busy to deal with the emotions fully. But the day she told me she met someone new was a punch in the gut,” he tells B-Sides & Badlands about the breakup which led to such a transparent, raw and honest performance. “It wasn’t fair to expect otherwise, but you know, it still brought up some repressed feelings. I sat down at my piano again, and ‘Winter’ started to come out again, but this time with a renewed meaning and feeling behind the words.”

Buck is joined by musicians Jed Nimitz (on bass), Robert Mitzner (on drums) and Mike Irwin (on trumpet), and vocalist Cass McSparin (balancing her feathery vocal in the background). “I knew I wanted to record it immediately to capture that feeling, so we tracked piano, bass and drums together in the live room at M&I studios in Hell’s Kitchen,” Buck continues. “Their room has such a warm tone – exactly what I wanted for this record. The trumpet was such a strong addition to the song it made its way out of the choruses and solo and spread into the intro and verses to became the key part to the entire song.”

Buck is set to play a solo set this Saturday (Dec. 16) at New York’s Rockwood Music Hall. Also this week, he issued All These Things as a deluxe 12″ vinyl. You can purchase now. - B-sides and Badlands

Luke Buck is finally stepping in front of the camera, after being behind it for so long.

BACKGROUND
Luke grew up 2 hours north of Philly, and 2 hours west of NYC. Naturally, his Mom wanted him to become Kenny G — so of course, he first learned to play sax. Later down the road, his drive to learn guitar was guided by “this crazy new thing called the internet”, Counting Crows, Radiohead, and Weezer. Even George W. Bush was an early investor in Buck’s musical repertoire (Stimulus Act of 2008), enabling him to learn how to play the piano.

After college in 2005, Luke moved to NYC and picked up regular freelance film & TV work. Fast-foward to 2008, and he met his ex-girlfriend, Jenny. Enter: quite the rollercoaster ride. Moving in together, getting a dog, the two were both performers. After Jenny picked up a cruise contract that had them long-distance for 9 months out of the year, things turned sour quickly. They broke up, and Luke’s immediate response, in a state of drunken desperation, still sticks with us:

“FUCK IT. I’m starting a band.”

As Luke puts it, “the floodgate opened and so many songs began to pour out. […] It was then that I wrote my entire album and half of my next album.” Then weirdly, it all happened over again (kind of). Luke & Jenny got back together, she moved out of state for law school, and they broke up for good (for now? Nah. Probably for good). This time’s aftermath? A trip to record his album, Dark Matter.

The video for “I Don’t Want To Be Alone Tonight” was one continuous shot, perfected on the 20th take.

For much of Luke’s musical career, he was hesitant to share his music. It was personal, he had taken a few hits to his performing confidence over the years, and he always “hated” the music he wrote himself. Until current day, Luke didn’t think much of anything he’s done would have been possible:

“I couldn’t have written the music I’m writing now when I was younger or be doing the things I’m currently doing. I needed to be in my 30s to have the confidence, ambition, and knowledge that I do now. It took a lot of learning how to be an actual person and to stop caring about what others think to have the confidence that I do now, and even though it took a long time to get to this place emotionally, I’m glad I have all of that to draw from.”

THOUGHTS
“I Don’t Want To Be Alone Tonight” is a part of Luke Buck’s Dark Matter, both of which deserve a thorough review — but we’ll focus on just the song for now.

“I Don’t Want To Be Alone Tonight” is the self-actualized antithesis to much of what held Luke Buck back for so many years. Rather than keeping his emotional musings to himself, they get spun out into a highly emphatic, fast-paced production.

There’s plenty of wit and diversity in cast, sound, and crew to digest here. Much of the song spends time building up what must have been years of history and reflection, before pushing into the burst of emotion and after-the-fact contemplation. It takes self-awareness to even be performing something so personal — and for listeners, that confidence is inviting and turns a once internalized story into a universal fit of celebration of oneself.

Ultimately, it’s empowering when it didn’t have to be. That’s what I love about it, and I love about Luke. 5/5.

CREDITS
Dark Matter‘s songs were recorded at Degraw Sound with Ben Rice, except for “Alone” which was recorded by Luke and tweaked slightly by Hobo Audio with Chris Stangroom.

The video was shot at Guggenhiem Studios and Edna Luise Biesold was his Assistant Director and Director of Photography. Michael Craven was the steadicam operator, with Barbie Leung his AC, and Alyssa Timoteo as the PA.

SUPPORT
Luke Buck’s album Dark Matter is up on both iTunes and Bandcamp for sale. You can follow him on Spotify, too, or Facebook if that’s more of your thing. - Impose Magazine