Artist: Zuljan, Bor
Release: 2009
Length: 38:33
Rating: 4.5/5
Bor Zuljan, a name the local scene hardly needs introduced to, is back with a new album ten years after his solo debut. It’s true that instrumental guitar albums haven’t had anything new to offer in sound, technique or playing approach for more than two decades, but Zuljan has still managed to put together something interesting and thoroughly enjoyable. Even though the guitar, the instrument the man owes most of his recognition to, marks the sound and the overall look of the album from start to finish, it would be hard to say the instrument is an end in itself this time. The first thing that grabs us is, in fact, the music. In places it does bow to learned patterns and approaches that are by now anachronistic, typical of the recent past, but the bowing isn’t distracting here and is more the exception than the rule. Those elements are merely an effective reinforcement of the poetics that, over the guitarist’s last decade of work, were shaped by subtler, more soulful outlines, and which reach their maturity with this album.
As a guitarist, Bor has also successfully fought off the curse of the Satriani syndrome, the common denominator of ninety percent of today’s instrumental rock, and added his own recognizable stamp to the music. So while the title track Funky rocker is somewhat reminiscent of ideas from the American master’s last two albums, compositions like Soul driven and Hey you are original creations that are probably closer to Jeff Beck’s relaxed fusion than to the intensity of the eighties shredders. The high point of the album is the last three tracks: I’m coming home; You smear my innocent name, which, despite the predictable motifs of Flight of the Bumblebee, contains a very interesting paraphrase of that classical piece; and the ballad I still love you. The record also boasts a sharp sense for guitar phrasing and its dynamics, a quality few guitarists whose trademark is strict, precise technique can claim. Pick it up and The reason is you prove it.
Funky rocker is a laid-back album meant for connoisseurs and the wider public alike. Its greatest quality is definitely how listenable it is; amid the vast sonic landscapes painted by Bor’s guitar, we forget that we once strolled through them before, at least those of us who are older. We’re also grateful that he didn’t head down the path of experimentation like Steve Vai did recently, who used an unusual mix of different instruments to create a fairly bizarre record that only the most devoted fans will use to pass the time. In that respect, Zuljan is undoubtedly closer to Satriani than to Vai. What sets him apart from both, though, is that he recorded all the instruments himself, including the drums, which aren’t played live, but that hardly hurts their sound. As an established songwriter, arranger and producer, he naturally took care of all those areas too, while the album’s inventive visual design is the work of his colleague Zvone Kukec.
The English song titles and other writing on the inside of the sleeve show that the album is also aimed at the market beyond our borders, which is often hard for Slovenian musicians to get into. If by our standards Funky rocker is an above-average work in every respect, one that will surely keep people talking, the world abroad has its own yardsticks and demands. The album certainly has great expressive, musical and, not least, technical potential, so let’s see what happens. But all this is probably not the Goriška virtuoso’s first concern. His main goal, as he wrote in the dedication, was to share his music with listeners again after a long time and, in their presence, to start a new, more mature chapter on his creative path.
So with his latest album, Zuljan didn’t set out to discover new musical horizons, but he has made an easygoing, ear-pleasing record that won’t be leaving your player anytime soon. And if he were to add instructions for use to his CD, they’d probably read: “Perfect for long summer drives with the top down, taking you somewhere you’ve never been but have always wanted to go.”
Lineup
All instruments – Bor Zuljan
Production
Bor Zuljan
Track list
1. Soul driven
2. Funky rocker
3. Rainy monday
4. Pick it up
5. The reason is you
6. Hey you!
7. I’m coming home
8. You smear my innocent name
9. I still love you
