With “Love Is This,” Luke Maguire Armstrong offers listeners a profoundly moving musical portrait of love, loss, and the grieving process. Armstrong is a well-known writer, journalist and development worker and this gives him a certain kind of understanding and insight into his work. However, it was a deeply personal trigger that led to this raw song – the death of his father in recent time.
The lyrics are heartfelt and Armstrong’s voice is the only thing that can be heard over the minimal music. He reveals the intricate terrain one has to traverse when dealing with such a vast lack. His memorable chorus “love is this, another face of you” goes to the heart of how despair can be as much a part of love as joy. Contrary to the desire of avoiding pain, Armstrong leads the listener into the heart of it, personally. Musically, “Love Is This” goes from bombast to a quiet beauty that befits a song that is meant to soothe. Minimalist accompaniment ensures that Armstrong’s message of hope is heard loud and clear. His gentle performance gives the lyrics a sense of comforting camaraderie as we understand how mourning arises from acknowledging what we no longer can possess but once had.
As such, the song finds comfort in the fact that it brings light to the darkness within. It extols silence over clamor, and points out how some of the most important things in life cannot be done justice unless they are done in hush. Armstrong’s ability to meet suffering with open-hearted care in this piece shows how one can transform anguish into consolation. First of all, “Love Is This” is a powerful song that pays homage to Armstrong’s deceased father while giving the audience a chance to embrace the most sensitive aspects of grief. He turns grief into a form of art that seeks to comfort those who are going through similar ordeals in life. Moving beyond the literal, the song becomes a poignant ballad of life, death, love and the relationships that endure both. Armstrong’s piece is less than four minutes long, and yet it is one of the few works of art that can be said to help heal through the telling of the truth.