All of a sudden, I’m 14 again, soaking up the sun and high on hope. Milky Chance have done it again. In fact, they just keep doing it. Their 2025 album, Trip Tape III, is just as ‘folktronica’ as their debut — yet somehow, better. It feels like the 2010s are making a comeback.

If the 2020s were an aesthetic, I’d say it’s clean-girl beige or maybe even millennial grey. But just when I thought the musical landscape was evolving much the same way, Milky Chance gave me a colourful beacon of hope. A little flashback to the upbeat, vibrant and sun-drenched summers of the 2010s.

About the band: Formed in Kassel, Germany, Clemens Rehbein (vocals) and Philipp Dausch (production, multi-instrumentals) began as high school friends making music — that’s how their Spotify bio humbly puts it. Alongside Antonio Greger and Sebastian Schmidt, they broke through with “Stolen Dance,” topping charts worldwide, before hitting Jimmy Kimmel Live! and picking up a European Border Breakers Award in 2014.

For fans of (FFO): Vance joy, Alt-J, Ben Howard, Bon Iver, Jack Johnson, José González

One-line review: “The 2010s are so back thanks to Milky Chance. Trip Tape III is nothing but groove, hopecore and sunshine.”

Stand-out tracks: Camouflage (a song for main character energy; can only be listened to with sunglasses on),
Naked and Alive (a song for the brave; it’s time to run wild and free), Passion (a song for sipping out of pineapples; also to be played with sunglasses).

Brutally Honest Impression: 

I was doomscrolling on TikTok when I stumbled across a familiar face that felt like an old friend (just with less volume in his hair). I peeped the username — Milky Chance. The chorus of Camouflage hooked me instantly, and I knew they hadn’t changed since I last heard them back in 2015, when I was an angsty teen blasting Flashed Junk Mind at house parties. But the fact they haven’t changed is exactly what makes them sooo good.

It was like a shot of nostalgic dopamine from a song I’d never even heard before — and what an opener for the album. Since release day, I’ve rinsed Camouflage so many times I’m convinced I’m single-handedly responsible for its million Spotify plays.

Clemens Rehbein’s delivery — somewhere between singing and spoken word — just scratches an itch in my brain. I catch myself repeating “I’m going MIA for a couple of days, feeling in my feelings in a special way…” as I go about my day.

I half-expected my rose-tinted earbuds to shatter my nostalgia trip once I dove deeper into the album. But no. They. Just. Kept. Going.

The covers are standouts too — from Tommy Richman’s Million Dollar Baby to Theo Katzman’s What Did You Mean (When You Said Love) — but the most unique is their reimagining of Black’s 1987 hit Wonderful Life. The song opens with a looping guitar-like riff, an electronic ostinato echoing flamenco phrasing, and suddenly I’m swimming in the Mediterranean at sunset.

In fact, the whole album plays like the first day of a holiday: the groovy holiday anticipation of Camouflage, the midday optimism of Passion, the candlelit dusk of their live version of Naked and Alive. And Bigger Than Us is the song that says, “a good time was had by all.”

Buuut this is Brutally Honest, so in the spirit of integrity: one thing does irk me. This album is so astoundingly perfect for summer that a September release feels cruel. It disappoints me that I’ll be forcing myself to bask in the tropical vibes while I’ve got Autumn leaves falling around me. Now, I understand there are strategic reasons for a later drop — award season timing, streaming cycles, etc — but what good is that when your listener is wrapped in a blanket while you’re singing about going on a safari?

When all is said and done, Milky Chance — you’ve revived the 2010s in me, and that’s enough to forgive the September release. I’ll just slip on my sunglasses and rose-tinted earbuds, and pretend summer is just a concept. It ends when Trip Tape III says it ends.

Overall rating:

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