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Luka Bloom
 Irish singer-songwriter Luka Bloom is no stranger to Australian audiences thanks to the popularity of his regular live performances. A rare musician indeed, Bloom has constantly changed his persona and continues to do so on his new album 'Tribe' - written in tandem with Dubliner, Simon O'Reilly - suggesting something new musically whilst further investigating his well known political beliefs. With its suggestion of both ambient and film music, the new album could perhaps be best described as introspective and subliminal in feeling - an idea with which Bloom concurs when chatting prior to his latest round of concerts from his home in Ireland.
"That is an interesting way to describe it," he suggests. "It's the kind of record that I have wanted to make for years. I've always had a bit of a strange affection for pretentious music and electronically driven tunes, soundtrack music and ambient music. You know, certain kinds of work that I've always loved to listen to but which I have always wondered whether I'd have an opportunity to make such a record myself - one that dips into this area of music. You know, very removed from the life of a singer-songwriter."
The collaboration with Simon O'Reilly, according to Bloom, "Came about due to my hearing an instrumental album that he had created about 18 months ago and I just loved it. I loved the textures of it. I loved the way he constructed the tracks on it. So I thought that I really wanted to meet this guy; and I went and met him and we really hit it off and decided to try to collaborate. We had one conversation about the nature of the record we wanted to make and we never spoke about it again and we never even once sat down in a room and played music together," Bloom admits.
From listening to 'Tribe' I suggest to Bloom that perhaps he and O'Reilly were trying to create a whole musical landscape within each song. "Well," he laughingly replies, "that's precisely where we wanted to go, actually. Simon is a visual kind of musician and he writes a lot for film and so he was able to create these kinds of landscapes for me to work with and that is what made it really exciting for me.
"So I would wait at home for the post to arrive with his music. He would send me a CD with like ten or twelve tracks every month or two and I would work away for weeks and weeks just trying to make sense of what I had been listening to - trying to find my way in. I completely created all the melodic links."
In short, O'Reilly gave Bloom the mood, as it were..."Yes, it was the first time in my life where I completely handed over the responsibility for the creation of music to somebody else and there is a fair bit of trust involved in it but he's a great guy and it was really nice working with him."
As with his last album, Bloom's new one will be launched here in Australia "And I'm bringing a wonderful Irish woman, Sabrina Dineen, along with me. I think Australian audiences will really, really like her. But basically I will come to Australia armed with my repertoire and that's what I do. You will only get to hear a couple of the songs from the new album because I don't really want to travel alone with a laptop...So there are a couple that work really well solo."
Asking about his constant need to change and experiment, Bloom explains that first and foremost, "It has to be an interesting journey. The easiest thing would be to keep strumming my guitar and writing the same kind of songs but I think I would die of boredom. I have to be challenged. I don't want to be put in a box or a particular category - file under 'folk'. In fact file under 'Irish folk'. It's a narrow niche audience and I have always tried to push out the envelope. That's the joy and beauty of the life I have. I can explore all sorts of possibilities."
Luka Bloom plays at the Governor Hindmarsh on Mon 26 March with Sabrina Dineen
'Tribe' is out now through Shock
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