Mikkel Ploug - Hope (CD)

Danish guitarist Ploug leads his longtime trio in a program of compositions both lyrical and dynamic, plus two arrangements of Carl Nielsen songs. Danish guitarist-composer Mikkel Ploug formed his trio with Danish bassist Jeppe Skovbakke and Irish drummer Sean Carpio way back in 2006, shortly after graduating music school. Recorded in studio after a European tour, Hope captures the renewed energy and finesse of three friends who continue to spark each other's creativity. There's subtlety here too, the same melodic lyricism and harmonic novelty heard to such great effect on Ploug's acclaimed solo acoustic guitar releases for Songlines, Alleviation (2017) and Day in the Sun (2022). (Two pieces from Alleviation were streamed several million times on Spotify). The program is completed by arrangements of two songs by Carl Nielsen, Denmark's great classical composer. Mikkel calls these beautiful old tunes 'my Danish standards'.Throughout May 2020, during the lock-down, Ploug serenaded his Co