Reviews: Luke De-Sciscio – Theo / September 27, 2024 / by Bob Fish / original

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In an instant, everything changes. It’s hard to believe how the birth of one’s first child transforms lives entirely. The birth of his daughter Theo had that effect on Luke De-Sciscio. Over the next six weeks, while the main goal was simply to survive as this tiny being became his entire world, De-Sciscio took note of everything, and Theo is the result, an album documenting how his world totally changed.

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Using just a guitar, his voice, and one piano overdub, he paints a portrait attempting to explain what it means to be alive and responsible for the life of a child. While such an album could fall into over-sentimentality, De-Sciscio’s mastery of the guitar and the elegance of his pen leads the proceedings into a world of wonder, trying to make sense of moments that have irrevocably transformed his life.

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From the opening moments of Two Headed Shadow, lives have been altered completely. “And when you were exhumed/ We heard you sing the blues/ I’ve got a good mind to live for you.” The language is so precise, yet simultaneously incredibly whimsical, which is not exactly what you get merely listening to the song. De-Sciscio has a way with language; there’s a sense of precision pervading the playfulness of that moment.

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Amidst the simplest chords, made from no more than a couple of notes at a time, Daughter encapsulates how the spell has been cast. “You are my daughter/ I see my family in your eyes/ This is where you were when I fell in love with you/ And my life fell inside.” Caught forever in a spell that never goes away, a spell that transforms everything that will come after.

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By the time For the Poems arrives, having experienced curiosity, fear and joy, there is a chance for one final glimpse into the future. Gentle fingerpicking frames hopes and dreams for Theo’s future. “In a world that’s found its way/ And is better than today/ Isn’t scared to be okay/ Is okay/ Like today.” Over the course of 11 songs, Luke De-Sciscio tackles the reality of parenthood in a remarkable collection of songs that distils the hopes and fears for an unknown future, what it means to be a father and what it means to be alive in the 21st century.

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