His 5-song set explores Armstrong’s life thus far, growing up queer in a Christian household in Lebanon, speaking to feelings of guilt and loneliness he felt when he left his home country amidst war and destruction to pursue a creative life in Los Angeles.
Those sobering truths and difficult decisions are reflected in his artistic processes without hesitation, fulfilling the meaning he seeks as he sets the stage for the beginnings of his music.
“BackBack” is as verbose as it is succinct, a hopping freestyle written after a painful breakup, a restless night, and a very long drive. The melodies throughout lend us a peek inside Luke’s vulnerable, frenetic psyche, but finds itself grounding in Armstrong’s musical finesse:
Serving as the EP’s final preview ahead of release, “BackBack” arrives with a self-directed and filmed music video.
“There’s an opportunity to face fear with art, to surrender to what scares you, process it, and come through. I want to be honest about human suffering, and to make a statement about what a better world can look like.” – Luke Armstrong
Holy growing / We feed the fire and fold them / They take our work and withholding / So I’m rolling for the coping.
“I started writing this immediately after a breakup call, reflecting on avoidance and letting go and pushing forward in relationships. I kept asking myself, ‘What can I really learn from this? How can I take the experience with me?’”
Armstrong was born to American academics and missionaries, raised in Beirut, and grew up speaking English and Arabic. Fro an early age, Luke’s been asking and navigating questions surrounding his own sexual, religious, and political identities. Music was always the way he could cope and speak freely without holding back.
From the steady Christian rock you might expect to hear in a pastor’s household, to the darker moods of metal and alternative you might not, to the revelatory thrill of electronica and house music. He left Lebanon to play college basketball in Southern California, and through the commitments of school and sports, continued producing and writing.
With a vibrant and personal touch left in Armstrong’s musical fingerprint, we can credit parts of his creativity to his stream-of-consciousness approach. With catchy rhythms and melodies making the heavy lifting sound easy to him, the emotionally charged lyrics harken back to inspirations from Frank Ocean to David Bowie to The 1975. Luke’s passion among his tracks, like “BackBack”, transmute the unavoidable pain of the world today and create something of a beautiful outlet.
Luke Armstrong’s debut EP, Boys Don’t Cry, is due out August 21 via Paid Vacation Records / Virgin Music Group.
Written by Samson Winsor
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