First coming to prominence with international breakthrough “Stolen Dance” nine years ago, Clemens Rehbein and Philipp Dausch have, in the intervening time, consolidated their role as chief architects of Milky Chance’s carefree, retro-tinged yet resoundingly contemporary sound. Designing modern beats with a sense of wistfulness for a bygone age, Trip Tape II sees the pair treat original output, demos and cover material with the staple larger-than-life scale that has encompassed their work since inception.
“Synchronise” serves an instant summer-sheened hit in Crystal Fighters meets Empire of the Sun fashion, capturing an audaciously upbeat strain inherent in Milky Chance’s sonic toolbox. Elsewhere, surrealism surrounds the album’s outer limits, “Troubled Man” streaming through bucolic strings tied with lyrics vented from the vantage point of an alien visitor, funhouse fizz is married with slinking guitar croons on “Fabulous,” while “It Is What It Is” tiptoes through a psychedelic subconscious-stirring thread.
Mediterranean-scored vibes remain the backbone of the two-piece’s Balearic pop, a moreish edge that governs the album’s triad of covers, standouts being Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and Tame Impala’s “Lost in Yesterday” – the latter a haunting reinterpretation that sees Rehbein and Dausch rearrange the glistening original version via fractured synth voices and ether-piercing ambience.
Beachside shimmer joins distorted sprawl in a fusion that manages to occupy the same space without clashing too much. In this sense, Trip Tape II contains the abidingly buoyant and elusive elements that have stood as Milky Chance’s strong suit, a continuation of the duo’s emblematic style that doesn’t lose much of its lustre on repeat listening.
