Luke Sital-Singh

Luke Sital-Singh first surfaced as an indie folk singer and songwriter whose intimate, haunting material prompted immediate parallels to Bon Iver and Jeff Buckley. The 2012 EP Fail for You introduced him, after which his richer debut album The Fire Inside reached number 43 on the U.K. chart in 2014. He then pared arrangements down for the 2017 release Time Is a Riddle. A newly acquired rubber-bridge guitar anchored his fourth album, Dressing Like a Stranger, issued in September 2022.

Born and raised in the southwest London suburb of New Malden, Sital-Singh and his two older brothers received early encouragement to pursue music, with Luke beginning on violin before switching to guitar upon taking up his brother’s instrument. While still in his early twenties he secured his initial Glastonbury slot in 2010. Fail for You arrived two years later, produced by Iain Archer, whose prior credits include Snow Patrol and Jake Bugg; the EP generated substantial U.K. airplay. Old Flint followed in April 2013, opening doors to tours and prominent U.K. festival bookings and eventually a contract with Parlophone Records.

His first Parlophone release, the late-2013 EP Tornados, again paired him with Iain Archer and augmented his typically sparse style with a full band, yielding greater sonic depth. Placement on the BBC Sound of 2014 long list preceded the mid-2014 unveiling of The Fire Inside, which also registered on the Dutch charts. After parting ways with the major label, Sital-Singh headed to Attica Audio in Donegal, Ireland, to record with producer Tommy McLaughlin, whose résumé lists Villagers and SOAK. Employing only a modest backing group, he delivered the reflective sophomore album Time Is a Riddle in May 2017.

The EP Just a Song Before I Go appeared the next year, followed by the McLaughlin-produced A Golden State in April 2019. Another solo EP, New Haze, surfaced in April 2020, after which Sital-Singh teamed with Old Sea Brigade for the collaborative All the Ways You Sing in the Dark, whose streaming hit “Call Me When You Land” emerged around the time he moved to California.

The duet “Rather Be” with Christina Perri preceded his fourth album, Dressing Like a Stranger, which he co-produced with Dan Croll and released on Nettwerk Records; its songs drew primary inspiration from the new guitar’s distinctive tone.