MIKE TRAMP: Maybe Tomorrow (ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

With "Nomad" (2015), Mike Tramp completed his initiatory journey and definitively imposed his trademark with an authentic rock-folk with deep lyrics. For his tenth album in twenty years of solo career, the Dane announces the colour by affirming that he now has his own style and that he intends to stick to it. Interpreting this position as a refusal to question himself would be a mistake for an artist who has already had the opportunity to prove his open-mindedness on many occasions. It would be more like certitudes on which he knows he can rely on with a well asserted identity and an easily identifiable know-how.

From the very first notes of the first single, 'Coming Home', it is obvious to note this balance between solid foundations and space left free for certain evolutions. "Maybe Tomorrow' picks up where 'Nomad' left off, but with a slightly more rocking approach. For more than six minutes, Mike Tramp and his colleagues let their delicate balance between hope and melancholy. However, the guitars become a little more catchy and Søren Andersen takes advantage of this to slip in a superb solo. Sharing the production with his leader, the guitarist is one of the main beneficiaries of this opus on which he can give many luminous interventions.

As is often the case with the Scandinavian quintet, the first listening leaves the listener with a feeling of happiness from which it is however difficult to remember anything in particular. This is the mark of great artists who know how to catch the listeners' attention at the outset, but force them to return to their compositions several times to grasp all their richness. Once again, the whole album is very coherent and each track deserves to be listened to, revealing new treasures with each passage. The slightly naive freshness of a light piano 'Spring', the haunting chorus of the delicate ballad 'Would I Lie To You', the alternation of dark verses evolving towards the light of the chorus of 'Leaving One Day' or the 70's English pop of a 'What More Can I Say' as surprising as it is appealing, there are plenty of reasons to come back to each song. There's a tendency to inject more energy than usual on certain tracks such as 'Rust And Dust' or a Bon Joviesque 'Why Even Worry At All'. It's also interesting to note that the ballads seem to compensate for this approach with an extreme delicacy, whether it's 'Time And Place' and its refined voice-piano duet, or the eponymous track with its masterful rise in intensity.

It's only once you're caught in his trap that you understand the significance of Mike Tramp's confidence. Like the sirens, the artist attracts the listener without the latter being fully aware of it, and when he finally comes to his senses, it's too late because he's already bewitched by the album he's just listened to several times without being aware of it. All the tracks turn out to be more attractive than the others and that's the talent of the Dane that privileges authenticity over showmanship for a result of an impressive maturity. - Official website

MIKE TRAMP

MAYBE TOMORROW

MIGHTY MUSIC

ROCK