Label: Pivec
Year of release: 2010
Production: Blaž Celarec
Album length: 33.13 min
Genre: Singer / Songwritter
Boštjan Narat, leader and founder of the tireless Slovenian folk devotees Katalena, joins the ranks of Slovenia’s finest singer-songwriters with the album “Strah je odveč”. After a decade inside his home band, the man realized he needed a wider creative playground to bring to life all the musical ideas chasing each other around his head.
Narat is a seriously well-read musician. A history professor and doctor of philosophy has to be. His broad mind that knows no limits, his refined sensitivity for picking up and absorbing information from the world around him, and above all his talent for translating a message through the sermon of poetry all arrive in the form of a standalone studio monument, at the point where this singer-songwriter has hit full musical maturity. “Strah je odveč” is an exceptional record of high artistic value, with a special charm and character that touches the listener in a very particular way.
Narat is down to earth. He keeps you on your toes the whole way, leading you like a bunny chasing a carrot on a stick through a sarcastically soured, sparkling bag of tricks made of juicy metaphors, and then almost in the same breath drops you right into the lap of everyday cruel reality. With the skill of a poet who knows how to shake the listener up and wake them. And that’s the artist’s basic mission. In every sphere of art. Narat knows how to handle “romance in hell”, to put it crudely.
“Strah je odveč” is a confessional, intimately felt album! First and foremost. Narat asks about life after life, about the feelings that stir in you when you wonder what happens when you “go home” (read: when your mission is complete and it’s time to die), as is vividly hinted at in the opening Yet another tango and the closing Odhod domov, as well as Na pol poti do kraja. How cattle feels in its own skin when it realizes it’s only worth something once it lands on a plate is painted in vivid colors in Ko se bo žrlo zares.
Not much has changed in St. Florian’s Valley over all these years. Back in the day, Jani Kovačič didn’t hide his cannibalistic tendencies, serving his kids his own hand on a plate. Now we’ve been waiting for over 21 years for a miracle that’s never coming. So even Narat no longer believes anyone has a clue what a revolution is (Daša in marksist). All that’s changed is that we’ve gone completely numb and don’t care anymore how they bleed us dry, those legally enthroned henchmen enforcing state decrees handed down under the constitution. It doesn’t even matter if they’re “self-proclaimed”.
Narat has carried all his experience, skills and the maturity that comes with years of learning and exploring yourself over from his years in Katalena into this solo studio effort. Armed with his trademark warm, deeply feeling voice and an acoustic guitar accompaniment that’s never banal or superficial but always manages to squeeze out first-rate melodic character for Narat’s poetry, fully amplifying the expressive reach of that very poetry. The combination of harmonics and chords in the lead guitar phrase of Odhod domov is a textbook example that’ll show you right away that Boštjan Narat is a seriously sparkling arranger for acoustic guitar. And of course also an acoustic guitarist. A combination of poetry and acoustic guitar that won’t bore you for a second. Don’t worry.
Narat is excellent at building up a mood, so that the message he wants to get across lands with a proper expressive crescendo. That’s the key to success in showing authenticity, and in that way the singer-songwriter legitimacy of any artist. It’s about the tradition of weaving verses into melody that can only sprout under Slovenian skies. That’s the link to Katalena, which comes through most clearly in the song Panter spi. So you won’t find a more stripped-down, honest and direct face of the singer-songwriter sermon than the one Boštjan Narat serves up to you on a platter.
In the title track he masterfully harmonizes the chorus lines in a vocal duet; in the closing Odhod domov he’s joined in the verses by Mina Špiler (Melodorom) with an almost whispering, caressing, sensual and supple voice, followed by the duet’s crescendo in a catchy chorus melody; and in Panter spi a “mini choir of Narat’s vocals” sneaks in. These are the three spots on the album where we find decorative extras to the otherwise bare delivery of verses over acoustic accompaniment.
“Strah je odveč” is a record that, in its subtly delivered honesty, hits you hard and wakes you up deep inside, and even shocks the listener outright. “Strah je odveč” ranks among the most interesting singer-songwriter works in Slovenia. With it, Boštjan Narat has carved out a thoroughly recognizable spot under the free, artistically creative sun of St. Florian’s Valley and stands shoulder to shoulder with the finest names in our country, each of whom delivers their poetry in their own way. From the playfully sparkling Adi Smolar and Iztok Mlakar to deeply insightful usurpers of the Jani Kovačič type. Simple as that. With its approach to delivering honesty, “Strah je odveč” shows Boštjan Narat’s exceptional reach: the aforementioned sly play of metaphor in a given verse, and a outstanding feel for ratcheting up the drama so that he brings the message in the poetry intensely close to the listener!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 9.0 / 10
Track list:
1. Yet antoher tango
2. Ženske, ki ljubijo pse
3. Strah je odveč
4. Na pol poti do kraja
5. Panter spi
6. Ko se bo žrlo zares
7. CDG 14.45
8. Daša in marksist
9. Stara jajca
10. Odhod domov
Line-up:
Boštjan Narat – vocals, guitar
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Mina Špiler – vocals (track no. 10)
