For today’s The Daily Album, I’m going back to early 2014 and Julian Le Play’s album ‘Melodrom‘.
Le Play (real name Julian Heidrich) is an Austrian singer songwriter I discovered through my fascination with Conchita Wurst and thus the Austrian music scene, and I’ve enjoyed his music so much since then I have to say I’m now a big fan. Particularly as he always sings in German, which I love.
As for ‘Melodrom‘, it’s Julian Le Play’s second studio album, it hit number 3 in the Austrian album charts when it was first released, it won Le Play an Amadeus Award in Vienna as ‘Best Album of the Year‘, and it has some fabulous tracks on it (just about all of them really).
Tracks like ‘Mein Anker‘ (My Anchor’) which got to number 6 on the Austrian charts and, with its ‘clap beat’, gorgeous melody and always-makes-me-want-to-dance gloriousness was one of my favorite songs last year. (Le Play’s live version of ‘Mein Anker‘ is superb).
Then there’s ‘Phönix‘ (yep, another of those Austrian ‘Phoenix’ songs), which is a soft and lovely ballad.
‘Wir haben noch das ganze Leben‘ (‘We still have the whole life’) is just pretty (and I keep using that word a lot for Le Play’s music but it is…just so pretty, with his so sweet voice, beautiful piano tracks, and exquisite melodies).
‘Rollercoaster‘ is an uptempo, more electronic number but it still has that fabulous Le Play-style melody. Then there’s ‘Benzin‘ (‘Gasoline’), with the most beautiful chorus (melody-wise, as you all know I speak about 10 words of German) and the prettiest instrumental playout. In fact, I think it’s my favorite song on the album.
And here’s what I love about Julian Le Play songs the most — they are always surprising.
Sure, the melodies are beautiful, the piano featured on most songs is stunning, and his voice is lovely, but almost every song also has a small twist. It never goes where you expect it to. The melody takes a turn you don’t expect, what starts out as a soft ballad turns into something a bit more pop, the chorus is suddenly larger than life, or the most heart-grabbing instrumental suddenly takes over the song. And they are always, always, always beautiful.
Which is why, in over six months of listening to Julian Le Play’s ‘Melodrom‘, I’m not bored with it yet. And, oh, you know I bore easily.
So, as my The Daily Album feature today, I recommend you listen to Julian Le Play’s ‘Melodrom‘ all the way through from start to finish, (there isn’t a bad song on) and listen just like I do. With headphones on, and played as loud as your volume will go. It’s one of those albums that will transport you to the most beautiful place.
You can listen to it in its entirety in the Deezer widget below if you have a Deezer account. Sign up for a quick account if you don’t have one — it takes 30 seconds.
And, of course, you can buy it on iTunes.