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Milows break through
| 09-05-2008 08:30 | 0 reaction(s) | add reaction | add news |
 When Belgian singer-songwriter Milow released his debut album, The Bigger Picture, in early 2006, few people had an idea what he was all about. Indeed, he had gained local notoriety two years prior when he became a finalist in the Rock Rally, a local battle of the bands, and his first single, “More Familiar,” had received some modest airplay from several Belgian national radio stations, but his appeal with critics and fans alike was just taking root.
Today, in his native country of Belgium, Milow is a household name. He has been rocketed to regional stardom, in part due to the success of his smash hit “You Don’t Know,” which reached number three in Belgium’s national singles chart and helped to sell over 13,500 copies of the album on which it originally appeared. Last year, Milow was presented with a TMF Award for Best New Artist, VRT Radio 2 ordained him the “Most Promising Newcomer of 2006”, and at the beginning of 2008, he won 3 Belgian Music Industry Awards (Best Music Video, Best Breakthrough, Best Song). It is not surprising that many are excited to find out what the future has in store for him.
For Milow, or Jonathan Vandenbroeck, one thing was clear from the start. His new record, Coming of Age (2008 Homerun Records), was by no means to going to be a carbon copy of his first album. “To a large extent, The Bigger Picture was a bed-sit record. This time I wanted the music to sound a little more abrasive and powerful. I’ve been playing with a band for a year and a half now, and that inspired me to explore the extremities of my musical expression a bit more. And indeed, my new songs range from quiet and acoustic to pretty loud and up-tempo.”
Some of these new songs certainly hark back to the austerity of tracks on The Bigger Picture, but new songs like “Canada” and the beefed-up first single, “Dreamers and Renegades,” show a light-heartedness that will be a surprise to those who are already fans of the first record. “My debut album sounded quite serious at the time, so I suppose it doesn’t hurt that my new songs sound comparatively toned-down,” Milow offers with a smile. “But while I was writing my new stuff I also felt the urge to dig a little deeper than I did before, to work on my songs more elaborately, and to further explore my vocal abilities. Never before had my singing hit such high and low registers as it did on this record.” Not less striking is the additional vocal presence of Nina Babet, a British singer now living in Belgium, who had previously lent her voice to Ozark Henry’s The Sailor Not the Sea. Babet and Milow sing a fetching duet on the track “Darkness Ahead and Behind.”
The recording of The Bigger Picture was supervised by Nigel Powell, who was a founding member of British band The Unbelievable Truth. For Coming of Age, Milow chose to team up with producer Jo Franken. “We had already collaborated on the single version of “You Don’t Know” and we hit it off immediately,” the singer fondly remembers. “In terms of sound and recording technique, Jo is an absolute master. I had been sending him acoustic demos I had cut in my attic room, which he would comment on. Thus, the seeds were sown for what was to become a highly satisfactory exchange of ideas. Neither of us is easily pleased, but this time we put our stakes as high as we possibly could.” Milow and Franken decided not to prepare extensively for the recording sessions and to keep their time in the studio both short and intense. As a result, everything was captured on analogue tape in a mere three days. Nearly all of the tracks on Coming of Age were performed live, with just a few overdubs.
Even more than on his first album, Milow obsessed over the quality of his lyrics on the new record. “This time I wanted to try to write songs of more epic proportions and to tackle themes that are less common in regular pop songs. I wanted to tell the type of story that, especially in the region in which I live, had not been told before. Most of these stories are the fruits of my imagination, some are entirely fictitious, but there’s not a single song on my album which is not somehow rooted in day-to-day life. I hate non-committal lyrics. It has always been my ambition as a songwriter to deal with things that are credible and real. Though it was inspired by the great American Folk storytelling tradition, Coming of Age is intended to be a uniquely Belgian artifact and a product of my own experience. All the songs on the album reflect what is happening here and now.”
The songs on the record are, consequently, infused with references to Flemish topics and events. “Stephanie,” a song which subtly recreates the sound of the E Street Band, is a tribute to a teenage girl who was murdered by her stepmother and stepbrother. Her horrific fate was in all the local papers in August 2004. Another chilling documentary song is “Herald of Free Enterprise,” inspired by the shipping disaster that took place just off the coast of Zeebrugge exactly twenty years ago.
The song Milow probably is most proud of is “The Priest.” “It’s about the choices you make when you are young, but which will have a huge impact on the rest of your life,” he explains. Milow deals with dysfunctional family ties in “House by the Creek,” which boasts an arrangement reminiscent of the soundtrack to the American television series Carnivale. On the record’s title track, Milow addresses the long and winding road to adulthood through childhood dreams, which he sings is inevitably bound to become watered down and transformed into compromise as one gets older. Still, Milow firmly states that listeners should never separate his story lines from the music. “It’s not exceptional for me to counter a dark, downbeat lyric with an upbeat tune. The picture only becomes complete when you put all the separate parts together.”
Over the course of the last year, Milow has become progressively aware of the potential power of his music. “It’s a wonderful outlet. I’m very aware of how lucky I am to be able to exorcise my demons on stage.” One question remains, however: does he take enough time to enjoy his success to its fullest extent? “I’m glad for every dream I’ve been able to realize and for every plan that has come to fruition,” Milow confirms. “But the very minute one obstacle gets crossed, I start looking out for the next one ahead. I’m afraid I can’t help it. It’s just the way I am.” |
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