Winner of the Clevland Free Times music award for best singer/songwriter, Jantz's eclectic self-titled debut on Ruby Records is an intimate, fully-realized edict of heart-felt, creative Pop/Rock, which claims influence from the likes of Jeff Buckley and The Beatles. Jantz's engaging voice is the initial draw, but once you've traveled all the way through the album, you quickly realize that Jantz has the full-package: Great arrangements, solid, lush songwriting and an overall bewitchingly passionate methodology. -- M.B. Cincinatti City Beat
Michael Jantz has gone from playing his soulful music on the cobbled café sidewalks of Europe to touring with Paul Simon and Brian Wilson. Whether immersed in the nuances of a solo acoustic performance or entrenched in the fervor offered by his full band, his dedication to the art of the song is always apparent. "Playing on the street was humbling but it taught me how to connect with people," says Jantz. "It was a challenge to try to get someone to stop and listen and communicate with them on a musical level. Later, on the stage, I was able to translate that experience into knowing how to work a room and really pull people into my songs. That's the environment that fueled the music I'm making now."
Fleshing out his acoustic-based songs with a full band complete with organ, accordion, African instruments and everything in between, Jantz drew on production influences from The Beatles, Lucinda Williams and Jeff Buckley, painting the album in a lush, pop setting filled with subtle aural delights.
From the infectious strains of "Roam (Motionless Tonight)" and the honky-tonk piano of "Deep Dark Night" to the Latin blend of the "The Streetcorner" and the gentle croon of "Take Me To The Stars," Michael Jantz begins, lives and ends in a world that's at once eclectic and wrought in genuine emotion. Jantz's songs journey organically through the human experience of lost and found love. Together with desire, loneliness, waiting in stride, and without wallowing in self-pity, Jantz always delivers a punch line on cue, with a positive nod toward the future.
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