KOPFKINO – John P Ellis (Available for download)
Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
JP Ellis will be familiar to those who follow musical theatre and had been appearing in a new production of The Phantom of the Opera in Greece when this lockdown over Covid-19 started. He took the opportunity to work on an album that had been floating around in his mind for a while and so, he went into Sierra Studios and started working on this album called Kopfkino. What or who is Kopfkino, I hear you ask.
Well, let me allow John to explain: “During these past months in ‘Lockdown’ my mind has been racing, a dream state, a film like realness to my thoughts. This is not something new, I have experienced this from early childhood, but I noticed over these intense months, where the world has been so adversely affected by Covid-19 that these thoughts and fears were evolving and becoming more intense.
“One morning I explained this to my husband who said, ‘Oh you had ‘KOPFKINO’ *HEAD CINEMA. Hence the name of the album was born. It so perfectly wraps up these past four months for me.”
The album features Ellis, along with some of his friends, in a collection of musical styles ranging from Pop-Opera to Electro-House and even Neo Classical to Eurovision. He states in his press release that it has always been the sound of the counter-tenor that has enthralled him the most and this is very obvious in the choice of songs and the way they are portrayed on the album.
Tracks include songs written by the likes of: Josh Groban, Chantal Kreviazuk, Thomas Salter (Brave), Arnor Arnarson, Olafur Arnalds (Old Skin), Arnor Dan (Bemoan), Dvorak, William Arms Fisher (Going Home), Toby Gad, Bernie Herms and Josh Groban (Bigger Than Us). Those are only a selection of the 10 tracks on the album.
It would be quite impossible to simply slot this into any particular genre on the album shelves and, as such, may be one that would slip through your fingers. However, I have to say that it is certainly well worth the listen although it is one of those albums that maybe takes a couple of plays to fully appreciate the artistry. It’s refreshing to hear an album from a musical theatre artist that is not just a rehash of show tunes.
Nick Wakeham
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.