Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Bowrain
Label: Kapa Records
Release: 2017
Length: 40:25
Rating: 4.5/5
Tine Grgurevič, better known by his stage name Bowrain, has long since stopped being an unknown on the music scene. In 2014 he first made a real name for himself with his studio debut, on which he introduced himself as a special breed of D.I.Y. sound manipulator, devoted to electronic synthesizing and sampling. But instead of beating the expected path toward a musical vision ruled by electronic sound pastels, Bowrain »flicked on the left indicator and turned right« (or vice versa) and came up with a surprising studio follow-up. On it, we get a balanced collision of the electronic and the organic.
Bowrain has radically broadened his musical vision on the new album, using some extra »tools« to do it. That way he has pushed out toward new conceptual horizons and successfully reached new (target) fields of his own musical expression. This step forward on the road of self-evolution is more than superbly measured. In that sense, Bowrain is moving away from the »one man band« territory, and the project is taking on the outlines of a proper band. Bowrain invited musicians he had played with and grown alongside in the recent past. Real chemistry in musical creativity developed among the contributors, they share similar views on musical expression, and that’s how the album »Distracted« was born. Reportedly, Bowrain got the bulk of the ideas and material while he was still living in Amsterdam, and then he set off on a European tour, traveled through far-off foreign lands and wide open spaces and met new faces. All of that filled the guy with a whole range of feelings, which he gradually poured into new original compositions, with the artist’s return to his homeland delivering the final act.
Even though the piano takes the integral role on the new album, Bowrain keeps his artistic identity, the one established by the debut, untouched, and actually expands and upgrades it. The new album is a definite step forward in broadening his musical vision and in his artistic maturing. It feels much more focused, more thought-out in the arrangements, and in every artistic move it is exceptionally polished, with a minimalism that nonetheless comes with layered sonic variety.
What Bowrain offers is unconventional, yet at the same time thoroughly provocative and fresh. In the compositions you can pick out traces of inspiration from works of musical pioneering. Back in the day, Mike Oldfield also layered lines of instruments over a lead motif while creating his revolutionary »Tubular Bells«, right up until he reached the final sound of the desired orchestral grandeur. The organic side of the album evokes just that, with its essential building block this time being the piano. The piano gives the frame to the motif formatting. Since it insists on repetition, that alone is enough to launch you toward new “trip-oid” experiences, which easily carry you off into a state of cerebral rapture, beyond the principles of the binary or empirical world. Into the world of the album »Distracted«. On top of that, there’s the album’s electronic character. In the sound pastels of electronic music used here, you can sense the influence of krautrock and the old-school moments of the NDW wave, and associations even bring up the occasional Kraftwerk, but as said, Bowrain comes across as homegrown, self-grown, independent, extremely special and therefore unique. The album »Distracted« only gratefully cements this homegrown position for Bowrain on the (international music) scene. So this isn’t Enigma, it isn’t Schiller, and it certainly isn’t just any random product of the »IDM« underground. This is Bowrain, who of course does share something with them. Namely, the arranging of vocal layers. He scatters them through the motifs so that the vocal layers work like an additional instrument, which in turn strengthens the atmosphere in the songs, one that is often mystically gazing off into the distance too.
The communication among all the building blocks of the soundscape is excellent. In terms of arrangement, all the elements of the sound coexist in firm mutual communication, sensing each other sensitively throughout and complementing each other at a very high level of compatibility. From the implanting of electric guitar, to strings (violin, cello), to the already mentioned coloring with vocal layers of »extraterrestrial gloss«, as well as the brilliant addition of further layers of sound synthesis. All these elements are tied into a concise motif focus, which this time is set by the piano as the album’s integral instrument, and in search of maximum expressive payoff they are arranged with subtle maturity and tremendously sensitive commitment. That’s the main trump card, and it makes a convincing case for the high quality of this record.
»Distracted« works like a soundtrack for a documentary about Bowrain’s recent journey, in which he waded up and down the old European continent and finally returned home. It evokes the musician’s feelings of lostness, even alienation, anxious loneliness, it carries longing, a solid dose of melancholy, but also solemnity, joy and playfulness. An album that breathes and pulsates with a homegrown aura and the inner rhythmic beat of its very own heart. »Distracted« is an achievement that speaks to you in a completely unpretentious way, that creeps under your skin in an instant, and that stirs up feelings of »homeliness« and provocative artistic freshness in the listener at the same time. That’s why its musical character is endlessly appealing, both when you listen closely, and especially so when you switch off your ratio and surrender to its energetic vibrations of unburdened, truthful musical exploration. If Bowrain keeps broadening and refining his musical portfolio in the future the way »Distracted« does, he will surely grow into a master of handling most of constant musical transformation and change, all the while keeping, nurturing and upgrading his artistic eclecticism.
Lineup
Bowrain – piano, keyboards, vocals
Mario Babojelić – guitar
Robert Nitschke – drums
Ema Kobal – cello
Vita Kobal – violin
JAŠA – narration on “Time”
Jure Vlahovič – additional sounds on “Saudade”
Production
Jernej Černalogar, Bowrain & Mario Babojelić
Tracklist
1. A New Beginning (04:49)
2. Saudade (05:34)
3. Asil (05:18)
4. Time (06:25)
5. Refugee (06:47)
6. Continuum (07:38)
7. Home (04:12)
