For English / Canadian singer songwriter Luke Jackson, making is a passion. And with his 3rd album ...And Then Some, it shows. Not least by the fact that its available as an audiophile LP edition, half speed mastered, pressed on 180 gram, and presented in a gatefold sleeve. Why ? Because you suspect, Luke wants a copy himself.

...And Then Some may never have happened had Luke not been a fan of a Swedish group called Beagle. Trying to tack down a ‘lost' album on the internet, he struck up an online friendship with the band's bass player Magnus Borjeson who, by the time they met in person was touring The Cardigans. One thing, as they say, led to another culminating in a ‘lost weekend' at the Aerosol Grey Machine - the all-analogue recording studio of Christoffer Lundquist - multi instrumentalist, producer, Roxette guitarist and Founder member of Brainpool - another of Luke's favourite Swedish bands.

He returned to Sweden several months later to work in the studio with Magnus on bass and Christoffer's Brainpool bandmate Jens Jansson on drums. Rough mixes were sent to London based string arranger Robert Kirby (Nick Drake, Elvis Costello, John Cale) who agreed to write and conduct the recording sessions with nine of the Malmo Opera Orchestra.

And that is the uniqueness of ... And Then Some - the combination of Swedish pop sensibilities with string arrangements. And yet somehow, the album has a distinctly ‘English' feel about it - in the same way as say, The Lightning Seeds. But it doesn't stick in a groove, skipping from the Beatlesesque opener Come Tomorrow, through the lovely flute augmented ballad Trouble, to the almost post punk NME Goodbye London. And that's a pattern replicated throughout the set.

It's a difficult album to pigeon hole and one that only mad dogs and an Englishman could conjure up. It has a certain understated charm, but ultimately its diversity may be its undoing. But d'you know what? I don't reckon Luke Jackson will care. He's made an record with some of his favourite musicians and got a ‘proper' LP for to show for it. Life doesn't get much better than that.

***

Review by Pete Whalley