Bruce Soord announces third solo album Luminescence

Bruce Soord
(Image credit: Carl Glover)

The Pineapple Thief frontman Bruce Soord has announced that he will release a brand new solo album, Luminescence, through Kscope Records on Septmebr 22.

The album, Soord's third solo release, has been inspired by the idea of finding inner peace, especially the difficulty of living in the metropolis of the modern world. The album is preceded by a new single, Dear Life. You can watch the touching video for the gentle, reflective single below.

Dear Life, which opens the record, doesn’t need much explaining," says Soord. "Don’t wish that it will all be over, in the sweetest blink of an eye. We are always told to not let life pass us by, but it’s easier said than done. And before you know it, it’s done! As my life in particular starts to age, it was an easy subject to relate to. It’s actually sung from the perspective of an elderly parent, on their death bed, to their child.”

"When Kscope asked me to make a music video for Dear Life there was only one person I was going to call. Jeremy George from Blacktide Productions, who I have worked with exclusively since 2018 lives down the road from me on the Jurassic coast in Dorset. That's where he directed and shot it. It's absolutely beautiful, as you can see. We were lucky to be in the midst of a fairly rare UK heatwave, the setting sun providing the perfect light."

The song isn't exactly abstract, it's pretty clear from the words and the feel of the music what I'm trying to say. And George captured it perfectly, along with his amazing assembled cast. He has a wonderful talent for bringing the majesty of the countryside where we live to life into the camera."

Luminescence will be available as a limited edition deluxe 3-disc hardback book version that will contain two CDs and a DVD. The second disc will contain an entire bonus album Our Ship Sails At Dusk, featuring material that was from the writing sessions over the period of Luminescence. The DVD will feature everything in hi-resolution stereo and DTS 5.1'

"I'd been writing for my solo album on and off since 2021," Soord says of Our Ship Sails At Dusk. "By the end of 2022, I took stock, finding myself with an album's worth of loosely connected songs. I spent some time away from the studio, to focus my mind on what I was trying to say, I guess getting myself into a more specific emotional space from which to write. All of a sudden I hit this purple patch. Every time I picked up my acoustic everything seemed to work and the words started to flow. It's something, as a songwriter, you wish happened every day! Before long, I had finished the main record and found myself with enough material for an extra album. Thematically it still follows the same broad narrative as the main disc, it's a true companion." 

Soord recently announced a tour of the EU and UK in October in support of the new album.

Pre-order Luminescence.

Bruce Soord

(Image credit: Kscope)

Bruce Soord: Luminescence
1. Dear Life
2. Lie Flat
3. Olomouc
4. So Simple
5. Never Ending Light
6. Day of All Days
7. Nestle In
8. Instant Flash of Light
9. Rushing
10. Stranded Here
11. Read to Me
12. Find Peace

Jerry Ewing

Writer and broadcaster Jerry Ewing is the Editor of Prog Magazine which he founded for Future Publishing in 2009. He grew up in Sydney and began his writing career in London for Metal Forces magazine in 1989. He has since written for Metal Hammer, Maxim, Vox, Stuff and Bizarre magazines, among others. He created and edited Classic Rock Magazine for Dennis Publishing in 1998 and is the author of a variety of books on both music and sport, including Wonderous Stories; A Journey Through The Landscape Of Progressive Rock.