Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Gjurin, Gal
Label: Self-released
Release: 2012
Rating: 4/5
Gal Gjurin is a proven workaholic who rarely sleeps. And even his sleep has to be stuffed with creating, just to satisfy the restless, exploring spirit of this musician. »Duša in Telo« arrives after three years. It’s Gal Gjurin’s third solo studio album. A double album. So the wellspring of Gjurin’s ideas is clearly not running dry.
Layers and manifold musical viewpoints, fused into an effective symbiosis, are of course all over the album “Duša in telo”. A lovely, easygoing, relaxing piece of work. Tight, concise moves. Proven to land on the very first listen. There’s no shortage of varied content, mixing elements of classical music with jazz, soul, blues, even world music. And above it all, “Duša in telo” keeps a rock-solid support in its character framework: the element of pop rhetoric.
Gal Gjurin is a seasoned artist. The road he’s traveled with Projekt mesto, and then the thrilling adventure with Galeristi, is proof enough. The man knows how to build the structure of a song, knows what an arrangement is. Knows his way around a studio. Does everything himself. Plays almost everything himself, let’s just say pretty much everything himself. He’s got things under control and is the absolute master of the creation of the album »Duša in telo«.
You could call Gal a modern, healthily cut continuation of the seventies pop “popevka” tradition, which was in full bloom with the unforgettable evergreens of Ivo Mojzer, Ditka Haberl, Janko Ropret, Majda Sepe and so on… Gal breaks up the pop framework with arrangements for winds and keyboards that fill most of the background of the sonic picture, while at the center of the story is of course his vocal, which, in such an organically »pared-down« soundscape, drifts in shades toward the timbre of Jan Plestenjak’s voice. Woven through all of this is a characteristic traditional Slovenian melos and atmosphere, bringing along that occasionally recognizable Slovenian posture of tartness and bitterness.
What’s interesting is that the two instrumentals, »Ko se tam gori olistajo breze« and »Glasba za film, ki ga ni«, ignite best on the album. Both unfold around an acoustic guitar arrangement that feels as »Slovenian« as it gets against the backdrop of the accompaniment, while at the same time being tailor-made for a film soundtrack. Both have a strong art character and a pronounced dose of emotion (as instrumentals, no less!). Maybe Gal should consider scoring a film in the future. The first disc closes with »Ples v slovo«, which stirs the sentiment of the opener »Duša« (the violin of Matija Krečič on both tracks adds to this parallel), except that in »Ples v slovo« it’s the violin that creates a dialogue of emotions with the vocal, while in the dramatic opening section of »Duša« it’s the piano in dialogue with Gal’s vocal, reaching for the range of chanson.
The track »Sedemnajst« was born to be released as a single and to get heavy radio rotation. The track that opens the second CD, called »Telo«, is one of the album’s most successful compositions, with a well-crafted head and tail, art pop with a tasteful dose of jazz inserts (the keyboards integrated in). The job of presenting the album ahead of its release, however, went to the track Knjiga obrazov – an even more trivially seductive composition that works even more infectiously on a first listen. The track To je to, a duet with Nina Pušlar, blows into this same horn even more decisively, and those more sensitive to a thick layer of sugary pathos will quickly »skip« it. And one more such typical teasing trick, yet generally digestible, turns up in the fun Fani. It’s true. »Telo« goes straight into the ears and sits closer to radio rotation than the first CD, called »Duša«. »Ko obrneš novo stran« has a whiff of the disco-funk veil of the seventies – another seriously infectious pop earworm, saved by the spicy addition of a plugged-in electric guitar.
Gal is a cunning arranging fox. He knows how to dose variability in the accompaniment (in generating a layered musical landscape). He knows how to weave a fitting tapestry of dialogue between keyboards and guitars in the backdrop of the accompaniment. After a bunch of quickly infectious compositions and the refined content of multilayered arranging (the harmony of the instrumental backdrop to Gal’s vocal), the second disc is a proper showcase of Gal Gjurin’s great talents as an arranger and composer. The peak of the second disc’s art pop charm is caught in the melancholic, yearning, personal title track. In the track »Duša in telo« we get the atmospheric crescendo not just of the second disc, but of the entire album »Duša in Telo«. The lightly rustling »Do neba« conjures a new mood and keeps up a remarkably successful balance between instant melodic accessibility and artistic challenge. That’s the »middle line« that is hardest for a songwriter and composer to hit, so that you win over the listener and at the same time effectively realize your creative self. »Gruvito, ergo sum«? Even Miles Davis in his »Tutu« phase would have pricked up his ears at this one, heh heh heh. A good final spice for the album. More like this please, Gal!
Both discs flow beautifully through the ear, impressing with a pronounced dynamism you pick up instantly between the compositions. Still, there’s a nagging feeling that, in the spirit of the album »Duša in telo«, Gal is still first and foremost adapting to the crowd, subordinating himself to the target group of listeners. He’d rather stay acceptable to the stage of Cankarjev dom, where the bulk of our grandmas, aunts and uncles invest their »intellectual« capital in annual subscriptions. For all the art talent Gal carries within, for all his feel for the finely sophisticated plasma of wisely cut musical structures, it’s sadly hard to shake that feeling on the album (the naive »In ko se vračal boš nazaj«, cut from an almost too familiar Mediterranean melos, is, for instance, one move too many) .You can feel that Gal could coax more eclecticism out of himself, more artistic »edginess« in the positive sense, more provocative out-of-the-ordinariness. The question remains. Will Gal Gjurin dare to openly challenge himself and show his true creative self in the future? »Duša in telo« surpasses the album »Srce«, no doubt about that, and is a manifesto of Gal Gjurin’s continued artistic maturing. As a solo artist, he’ll most likely follow the expressive sphere of »Duša in telo« in the future too, developing, nurturing and building on the musical direction laid out on his latest album.
Line-up
Gal Gjurin – vocals, various instruments, lyrics, arrangements, compositions
GUEST MUSICIANS
Severa Gjurin – vocals
Matej Gruden – vocals
Blaž Učakar- vocals
Nina Pušlar – vocals
Igor Leonardi – oud, tiple
Klavdija Jaketič – bisernica
Jan Plestenjak – guitar
Mirko Medved – guitar
Matija Krečič – violin
Marko Kragelnik – cello
Nuno Coelho Silva – violin
Nataša Brina Zupančič – violin
Valentin Štante – viola
Jelena Soro – oboe, English horn
Domen Gracej – winds, vocals
Uroš Vegelj – tuba
Andrej Žust – French horn
Blaž Celarec – percussion
Miha Kraker – percussion
Boris Šprajc – percussion
Jan Vrhovnik – percussion
Enos Kugler – drums
Gašper Peršol – drums
Matijas Severhen – drums
Gašper Konec – accordion, Hammond organ, electric piano
Miha Debevec – diatonic accordion
Tomaž Rožanec – piano accordion
Jean Markič – harmonica
Production
Gal Gjurin
Tracklist
CD1. (“Duša”):
1. Duša
2. In ko se vračal, boš nazaj
3. Ikar
4. Sneg
5. A me slišiš še?
6. V tišini
7. Spet doma
8. Nisem kriv II.
9. Mrak
10. Ko se tam gori olistajo breze
11. Ples v slovo
CD2. (“Telo”):
1. Sedemanajst
2. Knjiga obrazov
3. Ne razumem, zakaj
4. Glasba za film, ki ga ni
5. To je to
6. Nisem kriv I.
7. Fani
8. Ko obrneš novo stran
9. Duša in telo
10. Do neba
11. Gruvito, ergo sum
