You may recognize Luke Top’s earthy intonation from the worldly dance music-informed outfit he co-founded, Fool’s Gold. Now, he’s now taking his voice to new places with a solo folk effort, Suspect Highs — a sometimes jazzy (“Reunion Island”), other times rockabilly (“Chariot”), all the time arresting affair. The product of an isolated post-tour convalescence, his debut LP (out March 4 via Grand Gallop Music) is no vanity project, but a deeply earnest and deeply honest confessional.
Otherwise upbeat songs belie hidden agendas and cutting lines: On “Avalon,” Top hedges a confrontation with the same fair-weather lover (“I belong to love / That’s the line you gave to me when there was no other road”) with the vulnerable refrain, “It’s all for you.” Warm guitar lines overlay African claves, saxophone-buffed bass lines, or jaunty keys to create a recognizably refreshing aural world whose borders you may have skirted, but never seen in full.
Listen to Suspect Highs below, and pre-order the album here.
