The Late Call goes a new way and fortunately remains to his style. On the fifth album Your Best Friend Is The Night the Stockholm-based musician switches from guitar to piano.
It was a conscious decision to swap the guitar for the piano for the new album, says Johannes Mayer (aka The Late Call) in our phone call. “I took the time to get to know and love an instrument that I had only been sneaking around until now.” Together with his family, the musician moved to Berlin for three months in 2016. Far away from everyday life he explored piece by piece the new possibilities that the instrument has in connection with his voice. “I am neither a good guitarist nor a perfect piano player. All I do is to underline my voice and the text with the instrument. I think The Late Call succeeds in this, more than perfectly.
In my opinion, the piano brings even more warmth and depth to the new pieces. “Your Best Friend Is The Night” is a beautiful album for the coming autumn days and beyond. I declare two songs as my favourites after intensive listening: One is “Hold Up a Little”. A song that starts lightly and almost exhilaratingly with the piano. It has something of a longing song. A song that encourages you to travel, but then lets you stay at home happy again. Also beautiful is “True Friends are Rare”. It is the last song of the album, which is a little bit bulky, “Your Best Friend Is The Night”. A song about the importance of friendship when you suddenly feel lonely. The song lets the album fade away particularly gently.
Originally the album consisted of 15 songs, with only vocals and piano, tells The Late Call. When listening to the final recordings, however, it did not feel complete. Finely accentuated arrangements were added. Here a saxophone, there a bass or trumpet. Additionally in the background a choir or light percussion. The added instruments and the reduction to 10 pieces make the album a complete whole for my ears.
Your Best Friend is the Night, can almost be assigned to the area of Contemporary Classic through the piano as main instrument. It still has something of the typical singer-songwriter sounds, with the focus on the warm voice. For me, a light breeze of soul does the resonance. The result is exactly the warm sound that I need to keep listening.
Perhaps this particular nuance is also due to the collaboration with Gregor Hennig in Studio Nord. Together with the live band consisting of Patric Thorman (bass), Lars Plogschties (drums) as well as the guest musicians Julia Strzalek (alto saxophone, clarinet) and Emil Strandberg (trumpet) the work was finalised here. So The Late Call is in good company with other MUSICSPOTS favourite artists* such as Puder, Miu or Ben Schadow, who also recorded their albums at Studio Nord.
In my case, the new album has definitely clicked immediately and I would like to recommend it to everyone who likes lovingly composed music. You can also find out more about the making of the album next Tuesday, 29.09.20. Then The Late Call will be a guest at Never Lunch Alone Live Talk on Instagram. From 12:10 pm we will talk about the making of the album and of course there will be a little acoustic bite to finish off the best lunch break. Switch on, we are looking forward to seeing you.
Your Best Friend ist The Night will be released on the 02.10.2020 and can be preorderd via Bandcamp on Vinyl vorbestellt. More about the The Late Call you find via Bandcamp Seite, Facebook, or Instagram.
Fotocredit: The Late Call by Anna Ledin Wiren