My Rocket Ship is Markus Rill’s best work to date. From the first song, an acoustic jam, to the last, a partially spoken tribute to Townes Van Zandt, Rill shows great depth as a songwriter, bandleader and producer.
Rill, from Germany, is a singer-songwriter whose songs move from Americana/folk to rock. My Rocket Ship covers all that ground, with a little “gospel” thrown in for good measure. The gospel part is a song called God Believes, a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition’s Gospel/Christian Music category. On his website, Rill says, “I never even knew I wrote gospel music.” Hardly a traditional gospel song, and certainly not contemporary Christian in style, God Believes is instead a meditation on one man’s spiritual maturation as he settles into fatherhood.
The Facts About My Life touches us another way as Rill turns his first-person recitation of statements about Laura Kinney’s life into a song of hope and promise. [Personal note: I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Laura through Twitter. She’s a dedicated music fan with a good sense of humor, which is why I follow her.]
Perhaps my favorite tune on the record is When The Night Calls. A co-write with Daniel Biscan, this nod to old-school rock shows Rill’s versatility and benefits from the backing vocals of Annika Fehling.
Rill’s band, The Troublemakers, gets billing on the record for good reason. They bring a lot to the table. The band includes Chris Reiss on bass, Felix Leitner on guitar, etc., Aggi Berger on drums, and Jan Reinelt on keys.
You can stream My Rocket Ship here.
Mando Lines is on Twitter @mando_lines. Markus Rill is @markusrill. And Laura Kinney is, too: @magicmuze.
