Of course we'll never catch up on everything we missed in 2018, but we're doing our best to cover a selection of the Autumn / Winter releases, and today we'll briefly cover Danish songwriter 'Select Captain' who released his album 'Off To Save the World' in October - maybe that should be Donald's 2nd term campaign slogan after he's 'Made America Great Again'. We've written about 'Select Captain' a fair few times before, a consistent Americana / Folk influenced songwriter who's music and vocals have a soft reassuring edge to them.
Anyway 'Off To Save The World' opens in a reflective melancholy mood with the track 'Fit', and immediately it's the sound of the piano and vocals that I find warming, whilst title track 'Off to Save the World' is a personal track lyrically which builds slowly after the guitar and vocal opening - Kristian Gaarskjær is one of those vocalists who can carry a track with the barest of instrumental support. We've written about previous released 'Straight No Chaser' before, whilst 'Coming Home' is one of my favourite songs on the album, it's a simple enough track with a hint of country influence, but I like the gentle melodic lilt and bass / guitar accompaniment.
I'm going to contradict myself slight now, because although the melancholy tracks on the album really appeal to me, it's actually 'Ordinary Greed' which really stands out, a free flowing track with a big indie pop chorus and a great overall band sound - he released so many singles last year I can't remember if this was one, but it certainly should be. 'Highest Peak' (which we've covered previously) is still a brave song, very different to anything he's written before, whilst the album concludes with 'Out in Space and in Between' with a lovely straight forward piano line, expressive lyrics and it feels measured and confident.
'Off to Save the World' is a contemplative album, capturing Select Captain apparently in a thoughtful, earnest frame of my mind. And actually this slightly sadder sounding 'Select Captain' appeals to me, because it suits his voice so well, as he's always had convincing sincere vocals. Now given we love to cover innovative, experimental musicians who take music in completely new directions, it's fair to say that 'Select Captain' mostly sits in a 'safer' Americana space, but we can't all listen to 'Major Parkinson' and 'Svankropp' every day (although the former should be compulsorily studied in all schools), and Select Captain remains a 'go to' favourite on a very regular basis. 'Off to Save the World' is in our opinion his best album to date, both lyrically and musically and we really hope you'll all enjoy it.