M.I.L.K – Political summer jam and jet-ski vibes on the second day of SPOT festival

By Dana Hajek, Jutland Station, photos by Dana Hajek

“Can you hear it, can you feel it, can’t you see the ice is melting“ sings Emil Wilk under his artist name M.I.L.K when the melody starts playing. And that sounds really right: although this is a particularly cold day, it holds the promise that Summer is coming and you can almost hear the ice fading. M.I.L.K’s tropic jam and laid back summer vibes are reminding of sunny holidays, but the songs they performed at Spot Festival 2019 want to convey to the audience more than that. Is it about a summer romance or climate crisis that some keep ignoring? Emil’s songs have many layers.

Something in between solo artist and three faced collective

“My expression is a kind of feel or vibe – or something I think is great!“. Before M.I.L.K, Emil played around with a lot of different styles and didn’t put a label on it. It all just came together with M.I.L.K, that he founded more or less two years ago. „So, M.I.L.K. is probably just me who is sure what I want.” says the artist.

M.I.L.K is something in between a solo project and a three faced collective of singer Emil, a bassist and a saxophonist. Considering M.I.L.K only a solo project would not be right, Emil says: „One always has a lot of people who help making everything possible. So, I called it a collective. But in the classical sense, we can call it a solo project, since I’m writing the songs and decide where the music is going.“

Who is Emil Wilk?

It wasn’t ever really predictable that Emil was going to be a musician. While many of today’s popular artists practiced chords on the guitar or singing solo for the school’s spring concert as teenagers, it was football young Emil dreamed about. He was 23 years old before the musical world opened to him, and he realized that he has growing interest in poetry and writing stories. Now, seven years later, he has released three singles under the artist name MILK, published his second album and is particularly well-known in the French audience. He is signed with Universal Music France and has collaborated with the French star Benjamin Biolay, rapper Nemir and the electronic artist The Avener.

Jet Skis and freedom

Almost 300 people were attending to the concert of the Danish artist at Vox Hall Aarhus, feeling the lyrics of his new release ‘Jet-Ski’ and other exotic rhythms. MILK’s sounds filled the concert hall with warm melodies that brought, especially young people, to dance, to smile and to hug each other. At the same time, the songs although sound just like pop songs, they definitely have something deeper at heart. Beside of travelling, summer and beaches, freedom means a lot to Emil: “Freedom means to do, what I think it’s nice to do. When I’m playing, I’m not thinking about doing good or bad, right or wrong, and it is really just what it is all about! I just do it because it’s nice!“