Since 2008’s Dear Hamlyn New York-based Australian duo Luluc have been weaving mesmeric, gossamer arrangements from understated, organic instrumentation. The stripped-back LP Passerby in 2014 was followed by the warm, shoegazey gush of Sculptor in 2018 and then 2020’s entrancing Dreamboat with its unexpected, wonky little touches.
The duo, comprising Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett, are back with Diamonds, a record that laces haunting folk with sparkling, dreamy guitars and warm, soulful brass. Percussion is muffled and earthy, softening the songs’ edges. There’s a down-to-earth humanity to the album’s homemade sounds, but simultaneously a weightlessness and a misty stillness, as if it were all taking place in the clouds.
First track “Diamonds” lopes in, drums clopping and scuffling under heavenly vocals haloed in luminescent echo. It’s a vocal style familiar to fans of Weyes Blood, but Randell’s enigmatic voice traverses much more rustic and uneven terrain than the lushly orchestrated worlds of her contemporary. A saxophone blossoms distantly in the background as Luluc lead us into a soul-stirring key change in the song’s bridge.
It’s a truly masterful opening to the album that gives way into further pristine tranquillity on “Snow”. Molten gold electric guitar glimmers through a cool, muted hush, as if the track itself were blanketed in snow.
While this ethereal mysticism brushes softly through the whole album, right up to twinkling conclusion “The Sky”, Randell and Hassett are also surprisingly straightforward and unpretentious on the lighter tracks. “Come on Spring” is a sweet and breezy tune longing for the arrival of Spring, while “Sleepyhead” is a simple lullaby soothing a child back to sleep. Compared to the hypnotic beauty of “Diamonds”, these tracks feel rather abruptly simplistic, as endearing as they are.
The affirmations of love on “Evermore” are also very unambiguous, relying on the duo’s sublime Everly Brothers-style harmonies to convey its sincerity. The song’s soothing, mid-century charm prepares us for the next track, Luluc’s cover of “As Tears Go By”, neither radical nor remarkable, but comforting in its delicate innocence and reassuring warmth.
Perhaps the album’s most striking piece is “The Shore”, a rich, hefty track, emblazoned with mighty brass and fiery electric guitar. Taking its time more than most other tracks, the song moves through resplendent chords in an extended outro that stands out as the most magnificent passage Diamonds has to offer.
Myriad Voices 
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