Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Vagabunda
Label: Self-released
Release: 2014
Length: 11:10
Rating: 4/5
Behind the name Vagabunda »hides« a duo of two seasoned, battle-hardened Slovenian musicians. Vagabunda are an acoustic duo! The chemistry clicked, and the vivid sparks of energy that started flying between the two of them just couldn’t be held back anymore! We’re talking about Jure Jurca and Matevž Pavčnik. These two guys have serious musical mileage behind them. With the studio releases of Chaosstar and Mit, and their live appearances too, they’ve shown and convinced everyone that talent and driving creativity are something they don’t lack. Now they’re putting out the first official studio document of the duo Vagabunda.
Even though the two guitarists’ live show is geared toward reinterpreting rock and metal classics in acoustic garb, the even nicer fact is that the pair also write original music. The fruit of that is the EP called “Away”. Since these guys are perfectionists, they really went all in and thought of every little detail while shaping the EP. So they sought out finely tuned producers, heading straight to Studio Evolucija in Ljubljana’s Rudnik, to Simon Jovanovič (Unspoken, ex-Prospect) and Alan Gregorin (Roadkill BBQ studio), to lay down on recording tape three songs that form a trilogy of a complete story called »Away«.
The printing gremlin, though, played a little trick on them by shuffling the track order on the EP. In the mp3 order Long Forever comes first, but the EP should properly open with Morning Coffee. So let’s assume the correct track order, which goes: 1. Morning Coffee, 2. Long Forever and 3. Slowly Waiting. The three songs give a complete insight into the duo’s musical outlook. The record opens on a wake-up-call principle backed by the rhythmic pulse of a folk polka, where a jug bass would fit superbly as the opener Morning Coffee rings out (Morning Coffee has a mid-eight passage with a solo that, in some other story, could make a sensible add-on to tales of flamenco). A cheeky, playful song with an optimistic glow, rising out of a morning longing for the ideals your heart calls out for, only for the molds of everyday life in cruel reality to pull you away from the dream real quick. The song has potential MTV-level relevance, especially given the current flood of all kinds of »banjo indie rock« outfits that are currently reaping glittering greenbacks. In the instrumentally extended intro of Morning Coffee the duo points to some exceptional virtuosity, which reveals yet another important side of the Vagabunda story, even hinting at Jure Jurca’s progressive metal background. And the song as a whole, in its form, immediately signals that two accomplished musicians stand behind this project, who know exactly how to approach things in the studio as well as in the arrangements, so that the duo’s moves reach their expressive optimum.
Second up is Long Forever, whose phrases are subtly contrasted with distorted sound. A spice, then, that sensibly colors the otherwise dominant role of the duo’s acoustic dossier. The experienced Jovanovič surely helped here idea-wise, adding that dot on the »i« in the contrasting of arrangements and thereby shaping a catchy ebb and flow of moods across the EP. On top of the aforementioned distortion-droning tone, a curtain of synthesizers is added, creeping in somewhere in the second half of the same song and helping to ramp up the drama theater in the song’s outro.
All three songs also have an organically fitting rhythmic suspension, mostly made up of simple rhythmic knocking on wooden objects (most often the guitar body). Since both musicians are sworn to the pursuit of purism in an »organic and naturally sounding acoustic« tone, the vocals are also delivered in a single take, while the guitars carry a pithy, breathing, warm and deep, warm, natural sheen, with the wood of the Takamino and Yamaha guitars of course working wonders!
Slowly Waiting carries the most theatrical drama thanks to the melody of the chorus. Here too the duo squeezes out the musical optimum of catchiness. Supposedly the seeds of these songs were planted back when Jure was »employed« with Chaosstar, but they just never got realized. The choruses especially could easily have been the shape of one of his former band’s potential songs. Slowly Waiting has a passage that is a »repackaged« passage from the RHCP evergreen Under the Bridge. This fondness, revealed in the background of the essence of Slowely Waiting, for the face and work of one of the most distinctive bands rock history gave us in the nineties, and one that with its arrival on the scene actually co-defined the nineties, traces back to the teenage years that gripped both members of the duo in the nineties. That’s the period when you’re most sensitive to the current musical pulse, which also shapes you personally. Every one of us carries a set of such bands, ones that make the emotions boil over every time the conversation lands on them. Long after you left the teenage years far behind!
Vagabuda released this EP as a USB stick, which can boast being one of a kind. Just like their music is one of a kind. The wooden stick comes dressed in a little wooden box. Wood gives Vagabunda’s sound its characteristic color. We’re talking about the organic nature of wood as a material, essential in forming the sound of an instrument like the folk guitar. So this idea of packaging the USB stick couldn’t fit the duo’s musical ID any better. The move also brings a little revolution to the scene, which means Vagabunda are innovative on the scene too. The idea can be a useful signpost for other Slovenian artists on how to go about things as attractively and effectively as possible while dodging financial burdens.
»Away« is an extremely bold and beautiful start to the Vagabunda story. The studio debut will follow. The EP is a document that effectively announces the artistic distinctiveness of the acoustic duo Vagabunda, which is a nice send-off for the duo’s future artistic feats. The document is beautifully weighed down with a touch of virtuosity as well as arrangement tightness, written into the duo’s bold knack for constant musical tangibility.
Lineup
Jure “J.J.” Jurca – vocals, guitar
Matevž Pavčnik – guitar
Production
Vagabunda
Track list
1. Morning Coffee
2. Long Forever
3. Slowly Waiting
