Trent Miller is back with his fourth album after a gap of four years and sounding much the same as before but not quite as downbeat which considering the last four years is something of an achievement. Oh, and that in no way means this is a happy album either. He now also finds himself as one of an ever growing list of Italian musicians working and playing regularly in London.
The album opens with the title Track Time Between Us, which has already become a live favourite when I've heard it played over the last couple of years. It's a glorious love song to a love that is no more and the passing of it from a current to a former relationship.
How Soon Is Never is much fuller than it has sounded live and Barbara Bartz and Bethany Porter's strings give it a very lush sound; almost a bit Burt Bacharach. Trent sings about how he never wants to go back to the misery his ex has brought to him. This is perfect melancholic, orchestral pop full of feeling and emotion.
Moonlight Cafe is as reminiscent of bands like Opal and Devics if they had a male singer rather than spectral female vocals. It has that late night red wine and candles feeling which sucks you in while you start absorbing the bitter lyrics about the love that has departed.
Motel Rooms Of Ocean Blue isn't only a great song title but also a wonderfully sparse and bleak song about the emptiness of separation. The string section almost feels like tears running down your cheek slowly as he realises he's broken your heart. Yes, pour another glass of red wine now - you're going to need it.
I have an issue with Lady Margaret Street and it's nothing to do with the music but the title should be Road not Street if it refers to that road in Kentish Town and what might have happened there in what was once a real druggy hotspot. The song, however, sounds almost jaunty and has a good Harmonica solo. Trent sings about a relationship going wrong in almost every way it can.
The action then moves across town to Dalston for Bonfires Of Navarino Road and a new love to replace the one that's gone wrong. This sounds like it's musically more like Navarino Mansions than the road itself and those Victorian houses.
Days In Winter is another song that's been in the live set a while. It's augmented on record with a full band and some backing vocals from (I guess) Barbra Bartz and Graham Knight. It has become a richly evocative song of yearning and lust and almost sounds like a single.
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Hearts Forever Changing is a sonorous tale of (yes) a love gone awry once more, as happiness seems always to elude Trent. This has a gentle sparseness that's both laid back and rather affecting.
No prizes for guessing what After The Great Betrayal is about as the strings swirl around the room and he's been betrayed once more and he figures out if and when he can move on. This feels like a slightly happier Tindersticks with vocals which are far easier to understand.
Since You've Gone finds Trent wondering if he's been replaced by some other guy. Well probably, Trent, it's the way of these things, but still this is a cool, if slightly down tune. Lament Of The Sea isn't about drowning that ex: no, this is a very strippedback song about all the bad things Trent has done both to himself and his partners.
The album closes with She's Leaving This Place For Good and yes, he's throwing her out the door to the sound of some lush instrumentation as if it's the closing credits to a down at heel down and dirty film, as the poor woman drags herself away from the tormented love story depicted within the film or in this case very cool album.
If you liked Trent Miller's previous albums you will be more than happy with this one and if you haven't heard him before but like downbeat records full of heart and emotion that are in no way EMO then go and find out more at: Trent Miller online
Or: Trent Miller Facebook
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