DOMINIC MILLER: Vagabond (POP): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Dominic Miller has collaborated with so many artists that one look at his resume is enough to make you dizzy. From Phil Collins to Tina Turner, from The Pretenders to Manu Katché, it's impossible to list all the albums on which he has played. But it is with Sting, whose guitarist he has been for more than 30 years, that he has known his main hours of glory. In fact, when he composed 'Shape Of My Heart', he probably didn't expect to give birth to a worldwide hit, and yet he can boast of having made a good number of music lovers shiver with delicate atmospheres.

This delicacy is at the heart of Dominic Miller's solo albums, and "Vagabond" reflects the same artistic bias as the two previous ones, "Absinthe" and "Silent Night". It is an acoustic instrumental album that mixes jazz and classical inspirations in the manner of Ralph Towner or Pat Metheny when he collaborated with pianist Lyle Mays ('Clandestin', 'Lone Waltz').

Dominic Miller may be a master of the nylon string guitar, but his music is the exact opposite of demonstrative music. His obsession is to create subtle atmospheres and soundscapes, leaving each instrument enough room to bring them the warmth and harmonic color that allows the listener's mind to wander, through compositions inviting to reverie and introspection.

Therefore, each track of "Vagabond" could easily be used as the soundtrack of a cinematographic work. Besides, the magnificent 'Mi Viejo' is in the line of the 'Cavatina' of Stanley Myers, used by Michael Cimino for the credits of his unforgettable "The Deer Hunter" ("Voyage au bout de l'enfer" in French...).

So of course, between reverie and somnolence, the border is tenuous. But the compositions of Dominic Miller are sufficiently subtle and melancholic to never fall in the trap of the music of elevator. "Vagabond" is a cozy and warm album, to keep for the long winter evenings by the fire. - Official website

DOMINIC MILLER

VAGABOND

AUTRE LABEL

POP