My Luminaries - Order From The Chaos

They say that good things come to those who wait - and my, have we been waiting for this one for a while. My Luminaries have definitely taken their time getting their album out there. The London-based band, a quintet consisting of James Ewers, Leila MacFie, Mark Ferguson, Mike Murray and Sam Stopford, formed in 2004. Release of material has been sporadic at best, but now the record’s finally here. Thing is, though, ‘Order From The Chaos’ isn’t worth that long a wait. Granted, to be such a record it would have had to have been flat-out incredible from start to finish. It’s not, but the group definitely have their heads in the right places.

Things get off to a great start with the title track. Pounding drums give way to a chugging guitar riff and Ewers’ vocals. It’s all a little reminiscent of Arcade Fire, particularly in the lyrics department (albeit less cringeworthy like certain moments on ‘Neon Bible’): ‘Can we believe in something we’re not sure of?’’, he ponders. ‘Welcome to the Family’ showcases the band’s melody-writing skills quite well. Here, Ewers is in declamatory and venomous mood: ‘Everybody’s gotta tear away / Nobody needs a family’. Similar sentiments are explored elsewhere on the album particularly on ‘Homewrecker’, which, as the title suggests, documents a troubled relationship.

It’s not all rooted in gloom, however. The album justifies its colourful artwork on a number of occasions, not least on anthemic single ‘Parasol’. This band don’t do ‘big’ songs; they do ‘colossal’ ones: case in point, ‘The Sound of Music’, two-and-a-half minutes of instantaneous, riff-driven rock. The track marks a turning point in ‘Order From The Chaos’, leading into its final triptych of songs, which are the best on offer. Meaning, of course, that the record is slightly bottom-heavy, but this can be forgiven as each song in this trio shows the five-piece’s true potential.

A harmonica riff of all things opens ‘Heads Will Roll’, acommpanied by stomping drums and gentle acoustic guitar. Ewers is on form lyrically, and his image of ‘heads rolling down escalators’ manages to stick in the mind like you wouldn’t believe. Penultimate track ‘The Firemen’, meanwhile, is a slow-burning, piano-led epic that recalls Coldplay’s earlier days. If it were not for its length, we could see it working rather well as a single. It has the immediacy to make quite an impact.

So too does the closer ‘Won’. The band save the best for last with this simple yet stunning track. It’s just Ewers and an acoustic guitar for the most part, boasting a melody that is as uplifting as it is crushing. Everything comes together when the final lines of the album are reached: ‘A room full of lost souls united in song / Only to find they were found all along / There’s a battle that still rages on… just when you thought they had all been won’. Cue the entry of the full band. Military drum patterns, swooping strings and brass make sure the album flies the coop on a high. This points to the future being bright for this lot of Londoners. Perhaps they could become luminaries themselves given time? Not too much, though; hopefully the epic wait is a one-off, because while their potential hasn’t yet been fully realised, it’s there all the same.