“Never Dark for Long” sets up a remarkable album by Michael Munnik called “Driving Through America at Night.” You might guess this one is full of night driving music, and you’d be right. It’s mellow and heady. Not quite happy, not quite sad. The lyrics are at the center of what Michael’s done. Sure there’s good playing, there’s nice sounds, but the songs work so well because of the words.
“Anchors Aweigh” got stuck in my head for the better part of the week. When I hear a catchy tune I try to think of what makes catchy tunes. This has a solid acoustic guitar, a traveling feeling, lyrics that hit me. This is a “soft” song. But it hits like a ton of bricks.
I love the song called “Islington Angel.” It has a lurking beat that draws you in and again, you’ll see a pattern here, you’re rewarded for hard listening with good lyrics. I can’t get over the way this song makes me feel, kinda’ like the villain. It’s cool.
Let me pause here and comment on how the record sounds. It sounds good.
“Wait for Something” has a fast beat to it that takes kindly to Michael’s delivery. Lots of harmonies here too, quite nice. I feel like a few things are evident about Michael Munnik by now. He’s intelligent, he thinks about people, and he’s listened to a lot of music.
I was a truck driver for 12 years. I know what it’s like to drive America at night and it “never be dark for long.” If Michael was trying to make me long for that again, mission accomplished. A long sobering drive, a stereo, all you need.
“The One That Haunts Me” is a happy sounding melody that doesn’t necessarily cover happy ground. I love songs like this. There’s a change up in here I like a lot that I ended humming for a day or two. There’s lots of little musical clever bits to be found here. But the lyrics, for me, keep me coming back to it.
One of the smoothest songs on the record is called “Peace Like a River.” Everything is resolved in this tune when he says the chorus. The soft acoustic accompaniment is nicely done. This might be my favorite song on the record for the way it brings me a little relief and relaxation. This is a relaxing record.
“November” takes cue from the likes of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark with the acoustic picking and the pensive lyrics. Texas is a huge part of America. Did you know if you drive from Los Angeles to Orlando you spend a third of the time in Texas? So some Texas sounds winding up on a driving in America at night album makes complete sense.
“Mercy” closes out the record. It’s an acoustic song, mostly. The playing is great, the lyrics are impactful as we’ve come to expect by now. Perfect ending to a perfect evening behind the wheel.
What Michael has done here makes it one of my favorite albums so far this year. We’ll probably revisit at the end of the year, it needs some kind of award.
Learn more at the website https://michaelmunnik.ca/