Released: May 20
Jack Savoretti continues his musical voyage through the sounds that backdropped his formative years on the newly-expanded edition of his brilliant ‘Europiana’.
Arriving 12 months after the original album dropped, the ‘Encore’ LP features six new recordings from the singer-songwriter and is billed as a “sequel” to the chart-topping record.
Alongside the full original album, an additional second disc includes the lead single, a medley of Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me and the Italian original Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te, which Jack calls “a celebration of European music reaching a wider audience” and “the first example of that really happening in popular music.”
It’s a rousing recording, infitting with the themes of the album, which bears an unmistakable cinematic quality, drawn from his words and music.
The thrill of the recording process is clear from the onset: the uptempo Secret Life and joyous Dancing In The Living Room are earworms, while Nile Rodgers adds his disco magic to lead track Who’s Hurting Who. On the new edition, Mea Culpa is a slick electronic number, while Dancing Through The Rain opens as a piano ballad before building into a thumping pop anthem.
Elsewhere on the new set, Why Not has a groove that harkens back to the 1970s, while Late Night is one of the more contemporary-sounding tunes, bringing the project full-circle.
Along with the feelgood anthems are heartfelt ballads, with the self-penned More Than Ever the centrepiece of the original ‘Europiana’ story. On the new release, opener and single Love of Your Life is another of Jack’s standout romantic slow-burners.
At the core of ‘Europiana’ is a sense of lasting nostalgia, as Jack looks back on years gone by, from opener I Remember Us through to War of Words – both of which feature the vocals of a children’s choir, he embraces a past that shaped him into the musician he is today.
On ‘Encore’, however, he leaves yesterday behind and lives in the present, throwing an afterparty that turns up the tempo and celebrates the music and people most important to him, with an overarching sense of joy, freedom and euphoria.
In the short time since its release, ‘Europiana’ had already earned its place as one of our favourite albums; now, ‘Encore’ adds another chapter to the story, painting a perfect sun-kissed backdrop and the soundtrack to many summers to come.
‘Europiana: Encore’ is available now.
