Label: ŠKUC
Release date: 10.01.2020
Production: Chris Eckman
Genre: Alternative Rock
Rating: 9.0 / 10
For the female duo All Strings Detached, the decision to broaden their artistry by weaving a string section and a rhythm section into the new compositions is flat-out excellent. Not strictly necessary, but very good and very welcome. Why? Jana Beltran and Vesna Godler, the two women behind the duo, put out two albums, in 2014 and 2017 (“Heavy Rain” – RockLine review TUKAJ, “There’s Something Painful About the Pearls” – RockLine review TUKAJ), and with them they completely disarmed the critics and reaped a healthy harvest of encouraging reviews and enthusiastic audience reception. The two are marked by a (mandatory) vocal contrast, but in terms of arrangement, the minimalism of bass guitar and guitar accompaniment, combined with a soulful vocal charisma that works phenomenally in English, had somehow hit its expressive ceiling. From here on, if they’d kept arranging their songs this way on every new original outing, the two musicians could certainly have gone on fascinating us with future releases too, but as a rule only thanks to the (guaranteed) punch of their deeply personal lyrics. In other words, the singer-songwriter element.
That’s why the decision to grow All Strings Detached into an actual septet for their third album »Septet« (symbolized, too, by the seven cormorants on the album cover) is very, very good. And the result of all the factors involved? In their mutual meeting of minds and in their interpretation, perception and arrangement-wise complementing of each other, it works in a seriously fascinating way. Jana and Vesna have indeed gained tremendous rhythmic support and a solid “undercarriage” in the rhythm section of Vid and Jošt Drašler, and so they can now also operate as a proper rock band. The string arrangements subtly follow the sensuality and softness of the remarkable flexibility of vocal expressionism, which once again grabs you with incredible effectiveness and seductiveness. The softer the vocals, the more intensely they grab the emotion that the voice brings to life and delivers. The album is certainly not just dreamily “detached”; it’s also whipped up by a “vocal storm”, with the song What To Do Love developing that dynamically. In their chosen musical vision, in their chosen corner of the expressive musical field, Vesna and Jana are simply outstanding interpreters. Every verse hits with incredible intensity and takes you over. It carries off the listener’s soul and touches every last corner of it. The two musicians exploit the color contrast between their voices to build up the moods gradually, so that they can reach their bombastic crescendo in the closing stretch (The Pond). When needed (depending on the mood they want to create), the voices also flirt with shifting from singing into (almost) narration and whispering.
The nature of the album is once again melancholic, and there’s no shortage of bitterness and dark vistas. But the musicality is emphasized, speaking to you with a bigger payoff compared with the previous two albums. The string trio matters here, because it strengthens the transcendental element when parts of the songs sail off on waves of gentle string drone (By the Sea). Then the trio steps into the foreground (instrumental passages), or simply, on the “wings” of the accompaniment, “lifts” the vocal sermon up “from the background”. The vocal melody, and with All Strings Detached this is no longer news, usually develops out of minor keys. When the two voices meet these wistful lines and the sensual magnification of the string arrangements, the emphasis on the feeling of melancholy also brings out the album’s mystical, and in places even transcendentally intoxicating, dreamy, magical gaze.
The two could hardly have picked a better studio collaborator than, among others, the legendary Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts, Strange). All Strings Detached have been relevant to the international scene from the very start, since in their alternative rock pose and eclecticism, with a polished and incredibly well-honed use of English in the melodies and the meter of the verses, they sound so convincing that Americans or Brits could instantly claim this duo as their own. Bizarre as that sounds. In vibe and energy, they come across as more English or American than Slovenian.
This time Vesna and Jana “armed” themselves with a supporting crew of five outstanding musicians who are right at home, and extremely good, in the genre territory of neo-classical music, jazz and ethno-folk elements. In the alternative rock dossier of All Strings Detached, these elements very effectively “crouch underground” in the arrangements, while the confessional alt-rock character, clearly drawn on the previous two albums, stays intact. And then some. These elements, the most striking among them being the neo-classical touches introduced by the string trio, artistically widen the duo’s expressive range and lift it to a new qualitative level of artistry and of the eclecticism itself. At the same time, the album delivers an extremely effective musical payoff and extremely easy listening, or rather accessibility. With »Septet«, All Strings Detached reach a new artistic level, one that sends the two women climbing toward musical horizons of new expressive dimensions. That way they’re widening and opening up new room for further artistic growth, for expanding their musical calling card and for the aesthetic enrichment of their own original individuality.
A minor reflection. Live, all the songs on »Septet« can still grab you very convincingly even in a bare-bones duo version, whether or not the duo is playing in the expanded “2+5” or “2+2” (plus rhythm section) lineups. That’s only logical. Because Vesna and Jana wrote them.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Be Sure
2. By The Sea
3. Blueberry Woods
4. City Of Lights
5. Utopia
6. The Pond
7. What To Do Love
8. Lullaby
Lineup:
Jana Beltran – vocals, electro-acoustic guitar
Vesna Godler – vocals
Jošt Drašler – electric bass, double bass
Vid Drašler – drums
Barja Drnovšek – violin
Bojan Cvetrežnik – violin
Klemen Bračko – viola, string arrangements
