Not sure where really to begin with Luminites because they have so much going on.  They are a real mix of vocal talents; we have the backpack wearing beat boxer, the guitar playing rapper, the astonishingly beautiful and sweet sounding female vocalist and the exceptional male vocalist who looks like he should be in a boy-band!  They need to steal the name Diversity from Ashley Banjo and Co. because Luminites are its personification.

Having so many options to choose from they really can throw up some interesting tunes.   They are fun collective and offered a set with colour and… well… diversity.

Starting off with covers, in hindsight it was a real frustration.  Whilst the covers were solid and creative, the set really picked up when they started performing their own music.  This was their strength and part of me wonders why they bothered covering The Script and the like when their own music was so strong.  They seemed better able to get everyone involved to provide songs which were exciting; you never knew with certainty where the mic would be passed to next.

It is a difficult thing to make so many diverse performers work, yet Luminites managed to pull it off.  My friend and I pretty much argued the rest of the night about how we would mix and match them for different songs and styles.  Luminites seem like a Lego set, you can take the pieces and be constantly re-arranging them to make something new and unique each time.  This is a good problem to have because it means you can be constantly surprising.

Luminites were a lot of fun, enjoyable pop music with enough of an R&B edge to keep it interesting.  The two vocalists did feel a little underused and I would have loved to hear them really let loose on a duet maybe (with guitarist strumming and beat-boxer adding the percussion – think Wayna’s cover of Loving You).  Both have sweet and complimentary sounds so really looking forward to seeing how that part of the group develops.  There are so many ways to mix and match with Luminites the music should never get boring… although therein will be the real challenge, finding a consistent tone to make all the parts work seamlessly.

Watching this band grow and develop will be very interesting.  I hope they are brave enough to take risks and try letting different members take the lead because with so many bits to play with they are sure to build a masterpiece soon.

Rob