Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Jernej Vene
Location: Kamnik / Samostanska ulica / Slovenia
Concert date: August 15, 2014
Attendance: 70
Ticket price: €0.00 (free entry!)
After Borghesia’s show on the stages of Mali grad in Kamnik – RockLine report HERE, all that was left was to move just one »floor« down. To the street below Mali grad, where up-and-comers Vesna Godler and Jana Beltran, or more precisely the female duo All String Detached, were already busily getting ready to play. This June, the two gave birth to their studio debut under the wing of the Radio Študent label, and for a year of hellishly relentless downpours, it’s fittingly titled »Heavy Rain« – RockLine review HERE. It brings a storm of female passions and emotions, laid bare so openly and honestly on the record. So it was the perfect moment to experience them even more up close! In a live showdown with both alternative artists.
Acoustic guitar, bass guitar, whistle and? Two voices. A one-of-a-kind musical identity that fuses minimalist arrangements, built on undemanding guitar chords, the occasional whistle, a firm grounding in the booming, hollow luxury of the bass guitar, and of course the darkly sobbing longing of both vocalists.
Watching All Strings Detached, you can’t help but marvel at the superb interplay and intuition running through the working chemistry between these two artists. Just as striking is the incredible precision, cohesion and focus that never once slipped across an hour of committed performance. Vesna and Jana delivered their set with great distinction and won over some 60 curious souls with their dedication, all of us happily gathered in a circle in the middle of the street in Kamnik’s old town center. Despite the occasionally distracting passersby, who were looking for a way through the improvised stage, and the occasional loud conversations right next to the »concert hot spot«, which more than once drowned out the modest volume of the two combo amps, the girls kept their composure the whole way through and never let outside nudges knock them off track. They sank convincingly into their own world, the world of the album »Heavy Rain«, which they played in full, and with their meticulous playing they didn’t just convince, they enchanted. Seduced. Their world, full of gloomy female intrigue and questions of confusion, but also virtuous imagination that lures alpha males to their nectar, as well as moments of complete peace and calm, flexibly flipped through moods that rocked us dynamically from black darkness toward a glow of light and back again.
All Strings Detached fascinated with the way minimalism can be so concise in what it says and so tangibly full-blooded in substance. Provided, of course, there’s the right musical vision and a confident, courageous delivery of the message. Both girls proved they’re carefully armed with all of it. An approach like this will surely string together plenty more interesting musical experiences for the duo down the road, so it’s well worth keeping an eye on the creative feats ahead from both Vesna and Jana!
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