Irish singer/songwriter Luka Bloom looks back on his career in an unusual way on Dreams In America. Instead of revisiting the finest moments from his two-decades-plus catalog in a run-of-the-mill anthology of old album cuts, he decided to devote Dreams In America to creating vibrant new versions of songs from his previous releases. In a strictly solo-acoustic format, Bloom breathes new life into a batch of previously recorded songs. From the breathless narrative of “The Acoustic Motorbike,” which blends stream-of-consciousness beat poetry with rap-like momentum over an urgent strum, to the title track, a poignant ballad of love and distance, he makes it clear that these songs aren’t just part of his history. They’re very much a part of his present as well. There are a few live, band-accompanied tracks thrown in for good measure, including the folky “Sunny Sailor Boy,” which gets Bloom’s audience singing along, and “Love Is a Monsoon,” a pulsing tune full of rich imagery. The one new song here is ironically the album’s oldest song — it’s Bloom’s version of the traditional folk ballad “Lord Franklin,” to which he lends an almost impressionistic feel. In the end, Dreams In America shows Luka Bloom to have a history that’s worth celebrating.