Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Gibonni
Label: Dallas Records
Released: 29.04.2013
Runtime: 45:17
Rating: 2/5
Who on earth whispered the daft idea of recording an album in English into the ear of Croatia’s most serene pop rock showman, Gibonni? All the trains to international success left the station long ago, after all. To lay it on a bit thicker in the intro: at the peak of his creativity and career, Gibonni had the potential to become a successful artist of world caliber and even reach for the kind of success that Zucchero and/or Eros Ramazotti racked up. Why those two in particular? Because they’re originally non-English-speaking artists who made it on the international scene precisely because they knew how to hold on to the authenticity of packaging the basics of Italian musical philosophy, when we’re talking about the optimum of a composition made for radio play. »Exotica« can still be pretty appealing in show biz.
So on his new release Gibonni has squandered his most important trump card, the one that in the past won him not just exceptional fame and commercial success in Croatia, and beyond its borders across the wider market of the former Yugoslavia, but also made him recognized as an exceptionally high-quality and respected artist in the eyes of music critics.
By deciding to record an album in English, the man sacrificed that important virtue and trademark of his music, what we might call his Mediterranean trump card: authenticity. Gibonni always knew how to so subtly »slip« it to the masses and charm them with it.
The working crew on this album is still proven and extremely strong. The same goes for the »songwriting nucleus«, which once again delivers compact, hair-splittingly polished arrangements. But all this effort would have paid off best if Gibonni had stuck to singing in Croatian. The arranging follows the philosophy of the previous albums, so the only compatible language here is Croatian. Maybe in the kind of »experimenting« Gibonni has now allowed himself, the whole thing would have clicked sooner with Italian, even Spanish. But definitely not English. The fact that Gibonni recently opened shows for Simply Red in Slovakia and Poland means the Slavic nations are evidently receptive to his music because of the linguistic kinship, maybe not even so much because of the melos of his most prominent – commercially successful – compositions. If these international gigs were the yardstick for the decision to record the album in English, it was sadly a fatal mistake. Kids in Uniform? World music. Okay. Six-eight time? Africa (Toto). Why so obvious? Gibonni really doesn’t need that. Gibonni did try to stretch his approach to songwriting on the new album, one in which he’s always cultivated strong flexibility and openness to world music. So he shook up the track list with the title track and the closer Ain’t Bad Enough For R’N’R, which flirt with a rougher, riff-heavy rock hairdo. Never mind the musician’s roots, which reach back to his days with the Split rockers Osmi putnik, the two come across as a little forced and short on real inspiration.
Gibonni handles the English verses in his delivery very awkwardly. In fact, he mumbles them out. He’s not doing it on purpose; he’s trying to cash in on his basic vocal trump card, which works triumphantly when he sings in Croatian. He tries to wring out passion, emotion, the genuineness of the messages in the lyrics. But in English this time that same approach just doesn’t catch fire. The album is thus castrated of this element. Gibonni literally »cries«, and in second-rate English that’s only occasionally intelligible. The color of the voice, the color of the songs, the energy of the songs. The whole chemistry is completely changed, and Gibonni is barely recognizable because of it.
The album shows one more flaw. A lack of ideas. The solutions fall back on ideas used on the previous album »Toleranca« (2010). Gibonni repackaged his hit Žeđam from »Toleranca« once again, gave it the English title »Nothing Changes« and in that way »patched up« the space on a disc that runs a good 45 minutes.
There’s nothing wrong with »20th Century Man« by a long shot when you look at it unburdened, as a self-contained musical entity in its own right. But put it next to the rest of Gibonni’s body of work and its value literally fades. Watered down. Let’s hope this »stain« on Gibonni’s musical career is only temporary and that he takes the time to reflect and once again creates what he knows and can do best. That’s what he’s always been strongest at. And in his craft in Croatia he’s undoubtedly the best, too. That is, to create and release a true successor to »Toleranca«, which »20th Century Man« definitely can’t be. Sadly.
Lineup
Gibonni – vocals, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Masrko Ramljak, violin, electric violin, acoustic & electric guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
Vlatko Stefanovski – guitar
Gavin Goldberg – guitar
Miro Lečić – guitar
Patrick Murdoch – guitar
Andy Wright – keyboards, bass synthesizer
Maasej Kovačevič – Hammond, keyboards, piano, backing vocals
Marko Ramljanović – bass guitar
Branimir Gazdik – drums
Mark Cotgroye – percussion
David Daniels – cello
David Theodore – oboe
Barnaby Dickinson – trombone
Graham Flowers – trumpet
Martin Owen – French horn
Richard Watkins – French horn
Teo Brajčić – backing vocals
Anthea Clarke – backing vocals
Bayley Sanderson – backing vocals
Miro Prgo – backing vocals
Marko Skogor – backing vocals
Tomislav Proela – backing vocals
Sian evans – backing vocals
Children from Britihs International School of Ljubljana – backing vocals
Roachie – backing vocals
Production
Andy Wright
Tracklist
1. Hey Crow
2. Hide the Mirror
3. Broken Finger
4. My Cloud
5. 20th Century Man
6. Kids in Uniform
7. My Brother Cain
8. She Said
9. Nothing Changes
10. Ain’t Bad Enough for R’N’R
