On his official MySpace blog, Harcourt said of the album: "It's got horns, violins, howling, mellophones, the Langley sisters, barks, whistles, hell I even sung down by a creek in the middle of the night.

"[3] Harcourt told Direct Current that the album is "about that gleaming quality – the vitality, the passion – that drives you to keep going and not give up.

"[4] A special edition of the album was also released in the UK, featuring a bonus disc of unreleased recordings.

Lustre reached number 12 on the UK Indie Album Chart upon its release.

"[9] Allmusic gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, saying the album is "a sweepingly romantic, epic, and sparkling collection of tunes that finds the British singer/songwriter ruminating on true love, money issues, and parenthood in a way that only a man who has found his place in the world can," and concluding that "Lustre takes on a kind of cinematic joy where Harcourt the long-suffering vampiric troubadour steps into the light and shines.