Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Neisha
Label: Nika Records
Release: 2013
Length: 39:34
Rating: 4.5/5
Neža Buh, known to everyone as Neisha, gave birth to her fourth studio album in October 2013, and, speaking frankly, it’s a successful artistic step up from the road she walked with her predecessors “Neisha” (2005), “Nor je ta svet” (2007) and “Krila” (2010). The batch of eleven freshly created songs is proof of the artistic maturing of a musician famous for her exceptional feel for hitting pop aesthetics, the kind that demands a polish of combined sonic figures, boiled down into the concise, tangible, fully exploited sound of the album’s tracks. Once again, Neisha tastefully plays one of the basic axioms of the craft of music production when it comes to mainstream orientation. She once more plays the “less is more” trump card brilliantly. So nothing new in the basic starting points of her approach. The musician’s desire, really her expressive tendency, stays a constant. The level of artistic maturity is the variable. And that’s what decides. In this respect, the new album delivers a clear artistic leap forward.
Neisha will surely be happy to admit that she enjoys performing the new songs, just like she enjoyed the process of creating them and the hours spent recording in the studio. That’s undeniable. Thank God. Long live artistic freedom! And the album doesn’t hide that for a second. But since the lady is a familiar companion on the radio frequencies where “mainstream” gets spun, she had to work hard to skilfully package the ideas in a way that keeps the new album at the forefront of radio rotation too.
Neisha doesn’t approach this furiously, though. She isn’t satisfied right away, or quickly. That’s why any potential mold of banal, already-tried predictability has been carefully removed from the album. Not only is it all clear to her how a composition has to stand as proof of art competence, but in the studio she’s once again accompanied by a proven team of experienced, top-notch musicians, and behind the production console she kept producer Dejan Radičević, with whom she evidently communicates more than excellently. So why give up a proven and winning formula? Such a decision could lead to artistic suicide.
Most of the new songs are permeated by a deft collision of contemporary, mainstream-oriented pop catchiness, as dictated by the global music industry and MTV. This is the point where, say, Rihanna and Coldplay blend skillfully in the melting pot. Packaged the Slovenian way! It’s interesting to note that the album’s payoff in terms of flirting with the current pulse of the global pop mainstream is very strong through the first six songs, but later it gradually fades. The arrangements are concise, tightly profiled, short and relaxed, adorned by great mutual restraint, I’d even say an exceptionally heartfelt symbiotic relationship, in achieving the optimal coloring of the album’s sonic landscape. Flexibly adapted to the dominance of Neisha’s vocal approach. It can’t and mustn’t be any other way.
The drawing from current worldwide hit-making sparkles most vividly, as mentioned, in the first six songs, and it stands out in the excellent Tandem and right after it in the ballad-like, solemn Neverjeten dan, with a distinct melody that draws heavily on the tradition of traditional Celtic tunes. Of course, the association is only fleeting. This is, after all, a typical Neža Buh album. In fact, with its maturity, which has successfully passed the exam of newly set artistic challenges, this album cements Neisha’s place in the Slovenian mainstream. Deservedly so. Which means the notion of quality is a clearly expressed authorial individuality, which guarantees her a special, recognizable place in that same mainstream space.
Neisha has thus splendidly repackaged the current, absorbed it into her creative sense of artistry that strives for the perfect melodic singability of the chosen composition, and delivered an exceptionally beautiful and mature album that will keep her fans by the musician’s side. Alongside the constant dynamism of the songs’ lead arrangements and the seductive dynamics of how events unfold, one of its greatest qualities is also that it can boast a dynamic and warm production of excellently arranged building blocks, constantly adorned by an organic sonic color tone. Neisha is especially captivating in her vocal interpretations of the songs Neverjeten dan, Gloria, Razgaljen poet and the closing I Know You Too Well. Songs like Neverjeten dan or Gloria instantly take hold through the placed power of Neisha’s emotions and her passionately sensual approach to the message of the lyrics. The musician is guided throughout by a refined sense for developing exceptional melody in the vocal lines. And that’s the main trump card that puts Neisha in a special place in the amusement park of the Slovenian mainstream.
The song Junaki departs from the rest of the material on the album. Here Neisha’s expression is brought close to the typically familiar packaging of pop cosmetics on the sunny side of the Alps. Throw in some Mediterranean melos, some of Harry Belafonte’s positivity. A song of proven messaging, which actually benefits from the occasional banality of the lyrics and a touch of childishly naive arrangement packaging. The album is lifted toward the end by the fantastic Razgaljen poet (a feeling of solemnity embellished with melancholic sentiment carried over from the tradition of traditional Celtic tunes, close in vibe to the song Neverjeten dan) and after it the closing I Know You So Well. An intimately sensual confession, where Neisha’s vocal once again shines in all its glory and brings the album, right at its close, to yet another peak of mood. Moments of the album that trivially announce that Neisha can overcome any artistic challenge all on her own. All she needs is her exceptional vocal flexibility of full-blooded sensuality and the piano accompaniment! The moment when the artist truly bares herself to the listener in all the beauty of primal (her own) perception of musical message!
“Za vesoljke in kavboje” is thus an album of tightly crafted creative focus that effectively brings the artist’s musical vision to life. It’s Neisha’s manifesto, the record where she has matured and deepened her self-made sense of authorial artistry, gratefully cementing her position in the Slovenian mainstream.
Lineup
Neisha – vocals, backing vocals, piano, keyboards, percussion
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Boštjan Gradišek – drums, percussion
Jernej Kržič – bass guitar, double bass
Andraž Mazi – guitar
Dejan Radičević – programming, guitar, backing vocals
Vid Žgajner – trombone
Gorazd Buh – trumpet
Jure Tori – accordion
Nejc Simšič – backing vocals
Grega Zupan – backing vocals
Alja Kupec – backing vocals
Production
Dejan Radičević
Track List
1. Zvezdni prah
2. Muza tvoj’ga bluza
3. Mihael
4. Neverjeten dan
5. Tandem
6. Gloria
7. Junaki
8. Fanfare
9. Najina slika in ti
10. Razgaljen poet
11. I Know You Too Well
