Musical visionary Luke Steele shares ‘Pool Of Love’, the latest track off his forthcoming debut solo album Listen To The Water (out May 13).
“I’m finally getting the answers to questions, after so many years. For me I think I’m so impatient. So head strong when I want the deliverance or something resolved if it doesn’t happen on my time table I’d become disappointed and confused. Grasping that ideal that you literally have everything you need on the inside or you, your own pool of love, the keys to the kingdom.”
“Sonically I wanted it to sound warm and approachable, like an ear cocoon. A lot of these songs on the album I’d write little guitar patterns, then attack the vocals separately, which is a trick I use to switch your brain when writing so you can break out of habitual musical patterns.” says Steele of the song.
LISTEN TO THE WATER began to take shape in the gathering storm of late 2019. A fourth Empire Of The Sun album was in a state of pause, a global pandemic was on the horizon and the city of Los Angeles was conspiring to set Luke and his family adrift on a new adventure.
“It was like I was being summoned elsewhere. Our home in LA got infested with ants, the freezer shut down, lights were constantly flickering on and off and the message became clear,” Steele recalls.
That’s when the Eccentric Farm materialized with such predestined perfection that Steele didn’t hesitate. “We didn’t even come and see this place, we just bought it, six acres, a lake and a log cabin,” he laughs. “It was the start of a wild ride. Leaving this affluent LA neighborhood and heading to a small highway town in Northern California where bears became neighbors and bats were dusk time invaders. For us, it was polar opposites.”
“The record is a story, A moment swimming in my head,” Steele says. “A memory captured in music.” Homemade videos feature Luke’s daughter Sunny Tiger (13) and son Cruz (7) playing against glistening water and open fields: a bucolic contrast with “the mess and the madness within the songs; this wrestling in my mind,” Steele reflects.
