Record Reviews

JULIA KANIA ~ HERE SJ 026 (Barcode: 5912596066283) ~ POLAND ~ Jazz Recorded: 2017 Released: 2018 This is the debut album by young Polish singer / songwriter Julia KaniaFind albums by this artist recorded with excellent young Polish Jazz players: pianist Kajetan BorowskiFind albums by this artist, bassist Adam TadelFind albums by this artist and drummer Piotr BudniakFind albums by this artist, the above members of Kania´s quartet, and guest guitarist Szymon MikaFind albums by this artist. The album presents nine original songs composed and written by Kania, eight of which have lyrics in English and one in Polish. The music is only marginally Jazz oriented and offers a collection of melodic themes, performed in a Jazzy atmosphere by the instrumentalists. Musically the entire album stays on the same level emotionally and contains no surprises. The songs are well structured, but stay mostly within a similar gloomy atmosphere, which offers no excitement or empathy. The instrumental layer is highly professional and sleek, and shows the individual talents of the players, with solid and skillful solos by Borowski and Mika, whose electric guitar work takes this album into the Alternative Rock idiom. Kania´s vocals are very limited, staying always within a safe range of her vocal abilities. She sticks to singing the lyrics and uses none of the infinite vocal possibilities available today, which results in this album being pretty monotonous. She sounds like most Polish Pop singers, who to me all sound completely alike. The use of English lyrics is also very problematic, as the lyrics are difficult to comprehend due to her pronunciation and accent. As usual in such circumstances, the sole song with Polish lyrics works better than the rest of the album. Of course all of the above are my personal views and I wish Kania a lot of success in the future. Sadly this album is not my cup of tea.

Updated: 02/03/2018Posted: 02/03/2018

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ANDRII SACHEVA ~ ELUSIVE SIGNS SJ 021 (Barcode: 5912596066245) ~ UKRAINE ~ Jazz-Rock-World Fusion Recorded: 2016 Released: 2017 This is the debut album (an EP lasting just under twenty minutes) by the Ukrainian (resident in Poland) violinist / multi-instrumentalist / composer Andrii SachevaFind albums by this artist. The album was recorded by various lineups involving musicians from six different countries. The five tracks on the album, all original compositions by Sacheva, feature female vocalists, and in the case of three of them it is the Polish vocalist Julia KaniaFind albums by this artist, who also wrote the English lyrics for these songs. Other young Polish participants are keyboardist Bartosz KalickiFind albums by this artist, bassist Mateusz SzewczykFind albums by this artist and drummer Liliana ZieniawaFind albums by this artist. The music is basically melodic Pop with rich instrumental arrangements, which include in addition to the conventional instruments also some electronically generated sounds. The arrangements are elaborate and include some cross-genre influences from Jazz, World and Ambient music. The overall sound and atmosphere of the music is rather somber and melancholic, quite appropriate for soundtrack of a mystery / thriller movie. Sacheva plays a plethora of instruments in addition to the violin, but his performances on this album are not extensive enough to learn in depth about his abilities as an instrumentalist. Judging by whatever can be heard he is definitely a gifted musician. The performances by all the other participants are first-rate, especially the vocalese parts by Lithuanian vocalist Ida SevelkaityteFind albums by this artist on one track. Overall this is a promising debut effort, but still very ambivalent musically. Although these tracks present a coherent approach, the exact stylistic maturity is still to be clarified in the future, which of course usually happens in time.

Updated: 30/09/2017Posted: 30/09/2017

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