The quality of the guitar playing and writing of Luke Morley has always been a constant for the past four decades. His knack with an arena-filling melody and huge, hooky riffs has seen Thunder as one of the best rock bands to come out of the country since those halcyon days when bands like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple ruled the globe. Now he is back with the new album Walking On Water.
Luke Morley – Walking On Water
Release Date: 1 August 2025
Words: Paul Monkhouse
When his long-awaited sophomore solo album, Songs From The Blue Room, emerged in 2023, it was greeted with both critical and public acclaim, Morley bringing elements of Tom Petty-ish Americana to the fore to great effect. Fast forward two years and new release Walking On Water not just builds on SFTBR’s success but outstrips it, the work matching some of the best material from throughout his enviable career.
A much more muscular album than its predecessor, the guitars are turned up and the general vibe much heavier, the whole leaning much more into English blues rock than the more modern folk-centric offering that came before it.
This is not to say that all nuance is thrown out of the window. Far from it, as Morley is much too savvy an operator to follow the line of least resistance, but here there are more hues and some bold steps taken. As well as the development of his solo sound, it’s his voice that has grown in strength too, his characterful baritone revealing a deeper warmth and power.
Having worked with the mighty Danny Bowes for so many years, the risks of comparison were always likely to hang over this aspect of his work but it has been a reward for both the artist and listener to hear and see him step out of that very large shadow and with tailoring the material to himself, he certainly inhabits each number.
Listening to the eleven tracks on offer here, there is much to love from the rocky, ’70s-influenced blues thumper Natural High and immediately onto the title track with its balance of American melody and English swagger.
A brilliantly constructed Breathe and the gentle country rock of Texas absolutely ooze with class, as does the shimmering and inspiring Gun To Your Head, the latter featuring a gripping solo that dazzles like a midday sun.
Throughout, the musicianship is never less than thrilling, and when matched with the sympathetically warm but modern production, the whole thing sounds utterly alive.
With the fast-paced Snakeskin Parachute and the glam stomp of Bullets, a track that could give Oasis a run for their money, there is plenty to enthral lovers of heavier material, but where Morley scores really big is with the more pensive and gentle tracks.
Full of pitch-perfect emotion, the likes of the beautiful Forever And Again, superior blues ballad Don’t You Cry Now, and the wistful, stripped-back folk of closer In Your Light are enough to stop any listener in their tracks and immediately reach for the play button again once they are finished.
With the tantalising prospect of hearing these numbers on his September tour, things are most definitely cooking in the Morley camp.
An album to fall head over heels in love with, Walking On Water is one of the best things you’ll hear all summer.
Luke Morley releases Walking On Water through Left Hook Records via Townsend Music on 1 August 2025. For more details, visit lukemorley.tmstor.es.
