Mike Delevante Knows Waiting Is Its Own Reward
By Steve Horowitz / for PopMatters
Mike Delevante is a craftsman. These songs are deceptively simple in their language, describing the interplay of thoughts and emotions one has being in the moment.
Mike Delevante’s September Days is the kind of album that sneaks up on the listener. Like the month referred to in the title song, the music’s allure lies in its delicate mix between what was and what happens. September exists on the cusp. It’s when the heat of summer and the coolness of fall meet; when one returns to school or work and reflects on the past yet looks forward to the future. The baker’s dozen self-penned story songs express the mix of feelings one has during a time of change. Or a place of change…
Delevante hails from New Jersey but has lived in Nashville for many years. He shares an affinity with Bruce Springsteen in finding the poetic essences in the details of quotidian reality, whether it be the snow on the beach in the off-season or what is good about a good cry. While Springsteen famously sang about walking one step forward and two steps back during a difficult period. Delevante’s protagonists take two steps forward while heading one step back.
Life is a dance where the time between the one and the two is when one gets to enjoy just having one’s arms around one’s partner. The Nashville influence can be found in this mellowness. Delevante’s characters are openly wistful and sentimental (as compared with Springsteen’s romantics).
