Lonely hotel rooms, deathbed reflections and the undeniable lure of strings have all fed into the making of the third solo album from The Pineapple Thief’s driving force, Bruce Soord. He takes Prog inside the creative process that spawned Luminescence, taking care not to let his brain explode in the process.

Words: David West Images: Carl Glover

Finding Luminescence: Soord ponders the meaning of life.

“Finding the right words was really difficult,” says Bruce Soord. The Pineapple Thief bandleader’s third solo album, Luminescence, finds Soord in an introspective, reflective mood. It’s an LP to slowly savour and absorb, qualities that may reflect its lengthy gestation as the music was written and recorded across a period from January 2021 to June 2023.

“It’s one of those things where I would dip in,” he says. “I’d work on it for a month or so and then be distracted with touring, Pineapple Thief, things like that.”

And songwriting isn’t a tap to be turned on and off at will.

“Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t,” he adds. “It’s one of those things you just can’t force. I spent months chasing my tail. I was writing loads of songs but none of it seemed to be very coherent. Even though I had all these ideas, it didn’t really come together until the beginning of this year. I gave myself a kick up the ass, went for a long walk, came back and realised what I had to do to finish the record.”

During the lockdowns, Soord performed solo livestreams with just an acoustic guitar and a looper pedal, an experience that helped him clarify his sound and identity as a solo artist outside The Pineapple Thief. The acoustic guitar is central to the sound of Luminescence, providing the backdrop for Soord’s musings and meditations on life, love and the tribulations of the modern world.