Though “Speak Diary” (2011) - like its predecessor American Tune -is yet an other concept album, it taps into a wholly different source. On a chilly September morning JP Den Tex wakes up to find he’s no longer interested in his own future. ‘New cd, new tour’: it has been the ongoing routine for years on end. Now, for the first time in his life ‘this dreamer starts looking back’. For accurate information regarding his past he turns to his well-kept diary – to realize it doesn’t give him a clue about what really happened to him during all those years. As his diary proves to be little more than an ‘emotional safety valve’, just a way to blow off steam.

At long last he takes a dive into his collection of old demos: he decides to rerecord some of them, in order to get connected to times gone by. And it works! During the sessions he finds a new way to make peace with his past. Listen to “Angela”, dedicated to a teenage love affair with an Italian girl, way back in 1967, or the tragically funny “The Year Of The Gigolo”. But there are new songs as well… Take “I’m So Shy” for instance, which is shedding light on his peculiar relationship with his mother, or the album’s exciting opener “En Roulant (La Vie C’est La Vue)”. 

In short, JP’s looking back will not make you sad. On the contrary, it will provide hope and new energy for anyone who’s trying to define his future by truthfully looking at his past.

12--16- 2012