Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Lewis Capaldi, Universal Music 2019.
English musician Lewis Capaldi is creating plenty of interest since the release of his debut number-one platinum-selling album Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent.
I haven’t heard the album yet but I have heard a number of singles released from the disc and if they are representative of the album then it should be a beauty.
It’s already reached number one on the UK charts and it’s got a great title too.
The latest single, Bruises, follows on from previously released tracks Someone You Loved, Grace, and Hold Me While You Wait and each of them has charted well. Someone You Loved is especially good.
Bruises has been released as a four track EP which includes the original album cut as well as a live orchestral version, a remix by Steve Void and an acoustic guitar version.
Capaldi has a great soul/blues drenched voice and the mixes make the most of his remarkable singing by providing him with plenty of space in the mix.
On the opening album he is accompanied by sparse piano and limited backing vocals only while in the orchestral version the piano is joined by orchestration.
I really like the acoustic guitar version.
The song is very strong and all the mixes are restrained but particularly so in the fingerpicked guitar instrumentation.
The single mix is the full instrumentation version provided by Steve Void and it’s obviously the most commercially oriented.
There is another mix not on the EP arranged by Sam Swallow with members of the Manchester Camerata Orchestra which accompanies the video so Lewis is certainly wringing all he can from the song.
Capaldi has already performed on The Late Show with James Corden, featured in the summer festival season, and he’s just wrapped up a tour with Ed Sheeran.
Someone You Loved is currently tearing up the Billboard Top 100 where it’s close to breaking into the Top 10 and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bruises do likewise.
Lewis Capaldi is certainly someone to watch.
