Label: ZARŠ Records
Release date: 15.06.2014
Production: Vlado Lešnjak & All Strings Detached
Album length: 51.06 min
Genre: Alternative Rock
Rating: 8.5 / 10
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June downpours are a common reality. And this June, Radio Študent’s label is putting out a release with a fittingly meaningful title! All Strings Detached is a female duo made up of Vesna Godler and Jana Beltran. The two came up with every single idea for the album “Heavy Rain”, their studio debut, entirely on their own. Lyrics, arrangements, music. Everything. They also play and sing everything on that very record completely by themselves. This intro might remind you of the Incurabili story, but the starting premise of minimalism is really the only sensible common ground between the two duos. The difference in energy vibes and moods between the pair is as pronounced as the difference between the sexes. The musical backgrounds both musicians come from already add up to some enviable mileage, which points to a layered understanding of the musical world they draw their creative inspiration from. All Strings Detached is its own story entirely, one that embodies, first and foremost, strictly the chemistry of the creative moment between the two musicians and nobody else.
All Strings Detached feel most at home using English. The lead vocal is set against a backdrop of strummed guitar built on modest tonal solutions. It’s really mostly just a few simple chords, which can even recall a public rehearsal or a humble ad for the instrument. There’s lots of strumming on open strings, which gives the phrases the occasional dissonant overtone and deepens the chosen mood of each song, point by point. That’s exactly the trick behind what makes the experience with All Strings Detahced so special. It’ll lead you into an intoxicating world of sensual femininity, flowing with a yearning desire to surrender, but not at any price. Only at the price of the right stimulating impulse, which has to come from outside. If we men approach things head-on, female beings are a bit more wavering and less self-assured when weighing their decisions.
The hypnotic effect in a trippy atmosphere, shaped by a dreamy, laid-back yet darkly brooding unfolding of events, is certainly not missing. The girls add welcome contrasts to the arrangements with flute and piano, and the vocals often intertwine (Winter Scene, Balcony). Most of the heavy lifting is done by the strikingly distinctive voices of both musicians, which in places edge toward cabaret singing. You won’t find any quirky touches on the album that smell of avant-garde. There are no vocal excesses that would make your ears bleed. The record keeps a satisfying level of musicality throughout, alongside its otherwise alternative rock prowl. The flirtation with the energy of the biggest names in singer-songwriter music, from Nick Cave to Leonard Cohen, is not missing either.
So there’s no heavy philosophy when it comes to arranging the songs, but a different story is sketched out by the moods, authentically and wholeheartedly created by deeply lived-in vocals! Those two are the focal points of “Heavy Rain”. The atmosphere is distinctly dark, black, yet it by no means skimps on intimately relived emotion and the passions of female willingness. The songs are staged at a completely calm tempo. The girls are in no hurry whatsoever, approaching every move they make with commitment and engagement .
Because the songs are set to a calm, dreamy tempo, it feels like the whole album is wrapped up in one single song lasting over 51 minutes. That’s perhaps the only serious flaw of the release, as some might find it monotonous. The listener really has to concentrate fully, first and foremost on the message of the poetry itself. Only then does the record engage them enough and, as a result, satisfy them, since the duo approaches the listener primarily through the content of the poetry, while the musical accompaniment works from the background (a fitting, atmospheric contrast to the lyrical weight of the release). So “Heavy Rain” is a demanding record that needs several spins and for you to open up your soul and body completely. In the erotic story You Go Deep, where the female soul becomes especially vulnerable, the frenetically orgasmic vocal outbursts in the middle of the song are a very welcome move. With real finesse, these lived-in vocal improvisations effectively ignite the dynamics and unpredictable course of events on this otherwise deeply melancholic, yet heartfelt and sincere, personally intimate confessional album.
“Heavy Rain” is a definite oddball in the Slovenian alternative rock underground. It’s a bold debut that gives a clear glimpse into the expressive quirks of the musical dossier of the duo All Strings Detached, who are worth keeping an eye on in the future too. A duo with a sense of musicality and a ravenous delicacy of interpretation is likely to keep nurturing, polishing and evolutionarily expanding the reach of its expressive calling card, built on the musical cues laid out on the debut.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. I Once Had A Man
2. To Do
3. Winter Scene
4. Studio
5, Nick Cave
6. Balcony
7. Trade Marker
8. If You
9. You Go Deep
10. Slow Mind
Lineup:
Jana Beltran – vocals, guitar, flute
Vesna Godler – vocals, bass guitar
