Luca - Pillars

​Luca

Pillars
self-released; 2016

3.6 out of 5

By Santiago Garcia

Luca has been creating and performing music basically his whole life. He is an inspired musician, driven by jazz, hip hop, rap, rock and classical music. About a year ago, the talented artist began working on Pillars. It’s an homage to life, that connects his poetic, lyrical writing with his love for the piano and music. Pillars is an original, creative and eclectic mix of different vibes, sounds and genres.

​The first track “Trashed Pages” has a cool intro, a soundscape of outside sounds of people talking and birds chirping. It sounds like we are outside of a plaza, people watching and enjoying a chill environments. It gives the album a very human element right away; it’s a nice touch. 

Soon after the vocals come in and they are strong, clean, and powerful. The music and melodies are unique. They have a ‘90s grunge/pop sound. The instruments that accompany the vocalist are right on par, they have great chemistry with the type of vocals. The instruments and sounds are spacey, they are always there but never overshadow the vocals. They are very aligned and melodic with the singer’s style. 

The next track on the album comes in with an awesome piano introduction. The piano riffs are jazzy, fast and intense. That type of jazzy and quick intro is joined with and works perfectly with the spoken-word, poem-like lyrics that come in. The spoken-word lyrics and the jazzy piano are a great combo and “Stirfry” is a great showcase of the jazzy style of Pillars. “Stirfry” is like a cool jam session. First the song starts out with just the piano, then the vocals come in, then the drums and finally the bass. The drums and bass do add a dark but very fun feel to the rhythm of the song. 

Overall, Pillars is an album that’s just as much about the instruments as it is about the vocals. Some of the tracks, like midway through “Stirfry,” have excellent instrumental interludes thrown in and others, like “Pillars,” have melodic piano riffs or guitar samples in the background that give the album a lot of instrumental life. Pillars also features a wide variety of sounds, it’s diverse and exciting. Most of the tracks have a fast jazz sound with a ’90s grunge feel to it, but then there’s other styles or genres splashed throughout. “Pillars,” for example, is an all acoustic track that changes the direction and style of the album. It varies from the traditional sound of the album, but it’s exciting and fun to listen to regardless. 

​All in all Pillars is a fun and varied album. Luca is young and his sound still needs some sharpening and maturing. The lyrics are great and marry with the instrumentals very smoothly, but some experience and maturing of the musical talent will only make his next album that much more exciting.

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