ALBUM BIO
Following the release of his debut self-titled album in June 2015, Michael Mikey Brennan graduated from Bower Grove School. He spent his summer holidays exploring the countryside areas of Kent; as a result his songwriting became increasingly influenced by American folk and country music. The first result of this was "Home", written in August 2015 after a day out in Bearstead. In September 2015, Mikey was enrolled on a Music Performance course at MidKent College. The following month, he reconnected with an old school friend, Tom Blashford, now a music technology sixth form student, through social media, for the first time in five years. By 2016, the two began to work on writing and recording new music together, stating with the song "Round Once". What started off as a project for Tom's sixth form coursework, later resulted into him producing for Mikey what ended up being his second album.
ABOUT THE ALBUM
Born from Mikey's new found love for Bob Dylan, Dreamer explores roots of American folk and country music, which can be heard in harmonica-based tracks, "Home" and "Beautiful To Me". British influences can also be heard in tracks such as the Beatles and Rolling Stones-esque ballad, "In Our House", which incorporates the famous '50s progression (used in classic songs such as Frank Lesser and Hoagy Carmichael's "Heart And Soul" and "Stand By Me" by Ben E. King), and an eclectic blend of elements of pop rock, folk rock and soft rock, with influences of blues, jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul, and reggae. (The latter is particularly noticeable with Mikey's off-beat guitar playing, influenced by Bob Marley). Producer Tom Blashford provides all the album's instrumentation, blending electric guitar riffs and keyboard with Mikey's acoustic guitar chord progressions. Tom's keyboard playing skills particularly shine in "Without You"; capturing the soft rock playing styles of Elton John and Billy Joel.
The album's production explores influences of progressive rock, born from Tom Blashford's love for bands such as Yes, Pink Floyd and Genesis, as demonstrated through use of Hammond organ and mellotron, in which similarities to the psychedelic-era of The Beatles - Revolver and the Magical Mystery Tour - can also be heard, and classical and orchestral-orientated music, in which many of the songs reflect the cinematic sound of a film soundtrack (and the work of The Beatles, Elton John, Randy Newman, Jeff Buckley, and even Queen's early orchestral-orientated albums); with songs such as "Be Who You Are", "Beautiful To Me", "Friends", "I Won't Let Them Hurt You" (inspired by the 2015 action film, Tracers, starring Taylor Lautner), "The Apology Song", "My Beautiful World", "I Love You (Yes I Do)" and "We'll Always Be Together", musically and lyrically reflecting Mikey's Disney influences. Influenced by a range of songwriters from Elton John's lyricist Bernie Taupin, to Bob Dylan, Lennon-McCartney, Randy Newman, Don McLean, Leonard Cohen and The Corporation (The Jackson 5), the album is an overall blend of '60s and '70s influences, with modern day lyrical themes. Mikey continues to showcase his storytelling skills, with lyrical themes of love ("I Won't Let Them Hurt You"), lust ("I Love You (Yes I Do)"), friendship ("Friends") and motivation ("Be Who You Are"), while "Round Once" features lyrics penned by Tom Blashford, adapting a more Shakespearean-esque writing style to Mikey's. The album ends with "We'll Always Be Together", an end credits-esque song, biding an emotional farewell to listeners, with the closing lyric "I'll see you again one day" hinting an inevitable return and future follow-up album.