One may find this difficult to believe, but it’s been three decades that the ever-young Jann Klose released an album titled “Enough Said” and, thus, started a career that would bring forth "Mosaic" and a few more remarkable records. None of those were concept works, however, yet “The Future Trap” – which is out now on CD, vinyl and streams – is. More so, it features several prominent guests.
First of all, there are tree muses – Annie Haslam, Rachel Flowers and Marcella Detroit, although the first of these ladies didn’t lend her vocals to the platter, instead writing “The Lost Kingdom” with Jann and letting the second dame voice it as well as giving him usage of her artwork for the single. Among other players is current BON JOVI member Everett Bradley and acclaimed trumpeter Alphonso Horne, so it’s quite a varied, if thematically unified, opus.
“My approach to this album was quite different than before,” says Jann. “We created a character for the album that’s on a journey of self discovery. He’s a bit like me but also a bit like everyone else: very flawed, human. He can’t keep himself from repeating the same mistakes and pays a price. He eventually ‘wakes up’ and makes changes in his life. There’s no ‘arrival’ or happy ending; he just realizes that he has to keep fighting. There is an acceptance of sorts that we can hear on ‘Over And Over’ and ‘Outro.’
“It was my co-writers that gave me permission to go to new places and try new things. Marcus and I structured the album like a concept album allowing transitions between songs and focusing on the narrative of the character with a musical response. I asked members of my band in Germany and the U.S. to play on the album, collaborators and friends in South Africa, etcetera. There are musicians from three continents on the record where there are fifteen tracks, plus two bonuses for the digital and CD, and we are releasing some acoustic versions in the coming weeks and months as well as a short film called ‘Break the Cycle’ which should be out in a few weeks.”
The Future Trap
Part 1:
1. Intro
2. Show Me Who You Are (feat. Everett Bradley)
3. When I’m With You
4. How Do I Get What I Need
5. Better Liar
6. Love Is A Verb (feat. DJ Cosher)
7. Conjugation (feat. Alphonso Horne)
Part 2:
8. The Lost Kingdom (feat. Rachel Flowers)
9. Vignette
10. I Have A Scar
11. Future Trap
12. Break The Cycle
13. Hurting Nobody (feat. Marcella Detroit)
14. Over And Over
15. Outro
