ALBUM REVIEW: Maria Somerville – Luster

4AD

Released 25.04.25

This is Maria Somerville’s first album for 4AD, following her 2019 self-released debut All My People. The Irish NTS Radio DJ makes slow dream pop – music inspired by other times. Luster lingers like an afterimage – harking back to the cool minimalism of Virginia Astley, Anna Domino and the early days of shoegaze. Somerville sings in a swift, sweetly whispery voice. Like a spider weaving its web, fascinating in its own way. She writes immediately familiar music. I’ve heard it one hundred times before but it doesn’t matter: I long to hear it again.

With Luster, Somerville manages to bring something new to the past. She creates differencerather than repetition. It is a troubling, unusual feat.