If you can say one thing for them, Lucas certainly put their best foot forward. Already in their career they’ve worked with the Radiators’ Pete Holidai, played with Spiritualized and more recently decamped from their native Galway to New York, where they've made something of a name for themselves.
The result is a debut album recorded in New Jersey with Rob Fraboni, who has twiddled nobs for the likes of the Stones and Dylan. The whole thing bodes well, which is maybe why Pieced From Faded Memory is so disappointing. Given their immersion into the glamorous underbelly of NY musical life, you'd hope that some of it would have rubbed off on them, yet Lucas have made a solid, workaday record which offers precious little in the way of genuine excitement.
The sound is very old school Irish rock, which may suit the string of original acts currently retreading the boards but doesn’t exactly suggest that Lucas are looking to re-invent the wheel. The tracks move between full-on rock and more sensitive stuff, most of which we’ve heard done elsewhere – often better, often worse. It’s a horrible phrase to bandy around in the light of current media trends, but Lucas really are missing that elusive X-factor, and if they can’t find it in New York, you wonder where it will appear from.