I never realized how heartbreaking a ukelele could be until I came across The Luck.

Consisting solely of Jacob Bryce (though I bet his friends get to call him Jake), who also fronts Kelp residents The Recoilers, The Luck combines a bunch of ragtag instruments and sounds to make music that is stripped down but far from empty.

dial613 doesn't like to ever really say much about individual tracks, in the belief that the first judgment a listener makes about a song should be based on the music alone. But The Luck's sincerity and non-holding-back are contagious... so quick, here, take these and listen now:

DOWNLOAD
Unreleased Tracks from 2005 ..because there hasn't been a release. (Yet?)
--->Battle Won Battle Lost
--->Leave Me
--->We've Got It All Out... (has an M. Ward kind of feel to it)

Ok, so...
Did you listen?
Promise?
Completely honestly?
FOR REALS???

Alright then, you have permission to continue:
Battle Won Battle Lost - is hands down one of the most bitterly beautiful songs I've ever heard. It has all the components of a cheery song: a peppy bass drum beat, ukelele, handclaps, and even whistling... but somehow combines them all in a way to make a wistful, bare-bones song that sounds like it's yearning for something more.

Leave Me - follows in a similar vein, but standing out is a phone ring/conversation at the end which perfectly serves The Luck's romantic aesthetic of a solitary guy pouring his heart out in a downtown apartment somewhere, leading a double-life between the inside and outside of his recording space.
(And yes, I'm probably reading way too much into what may have just been a recording blooper. But it just works so perfectly.)

Other words I tried to use in this post but couldn't: "desperate", "awkward", "funshine". But I've been trying to use funshine for a while now...

This side project of Bryce's doesn't seem to be too active: he last logged in to The Luck's myspace June 16 (somebody send this man a friend request!) and has only played two shows, the last of which was almost two months ago. But it looks like there will be a couple more throughout the summer... when they happen, they'll be listed on the sidebar to the right.

The Luck on:
the internet/myspace