Michael Baker - Salt (2020)

The Brighton-born songwriter Michael Baker has continued his musical journey into "Ich", which he started on his debut, in the meantime opulent way on his second album "Salt". The fact that Michael spent years traveling through Europe as a troubadour in a rickety delivery van, in which he sometimes even lived (also because of his French roots) cannot be heard directly from the new work - but the rich experience that Michael has can be guessed at collected on his travels and from which he continues to feed.

The new album appears a little more down-to-earth than the last one, but despite the melancholic / thoughtful note preferred by Baker, it is characterized by a wide range of moods, themes, characters and atmospheres. It is obvious that something like this can be expressed better with richly arranged, complexly structured and fragile song structures staged with an eye for detail than with simple folk pop numbers. And even if he now sums up his immediate surroundings more often: At the end of the day Michael is still happy that there is a street in front of his door on which he could break into the unknown again at any time.