Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: DidiWa
Label: Klopotec
Release: 2015
Length: 64:32
Rating: 4.5/5
DidiWa are putting out their studio debut »Greva«, and it was a long road getting it into the world. Sadly, in the very year of its release, the band’s mastermind and founder Klemen Koman passed away. The songwriting partnership of Klemen Koman and guitarist Rok Tomšič created every composition on the album. Despite the tragedy the band has been through, the record manages to capture more than tangibly the two of them playing guitar, which is at the same time an imprint of both guitarists’ layered musical perception, translated into DidiWa’s unique musical language. DidiWa celebrate life and love. Besides the intimate, sensual and honest messages in the poetry, the cover alone hints at that, showing a stand of young beech trees. The first few lyrics grew out of Koman’s and Tomšič’s poetry, but then Vesna Godler, who joined the band that same year, took over the initiative.
DidiWa’s musical ID card, even though I just called it unique, is actually no longer a surprise on the pulse of the Slovenian music scene. It’s a homegrown story of 14 songs that gather under one roof genre elements of traditional Slovenian folk melos, jazz and blues (Svetilnik, Morje, Godzni blues). You can also pick up hints of alternative rock with a psychedelic, retro seventies sound in the song Avgust, or of radio-friendly, pop-leaning alternative rock in the song Zelena oaza. The album’s tracks are most often twisted into the confessional form of cabaret chanson. DidiWa build their sound on a completely organic timbre, though the guitar phrases can bring more noise when needed, which settles in especially in the tracks toward the end of the album (Avgust, Zelena oaza).
Speaking of blending genre cues, the ingredients show up in different measures from song to song. Of course, the most important thing is that they »carry« each other, meaning they’re compatible in the arrangement. And DidiWa pull that off very effectively. Take Dečko (first presented on the compilation Val10 – imamo dobro glasbo) and the cheekily giddy Ženitvena pesem, which are especially closely tied to traditional Slovenian melos. Ženitvena pesem could easily be played at gigs (in its own musical story, of course) by, say, Brencl Banda, while Dečko, in its purist closeness to the heritage of Slovenian folk melos, and in Vesna Godler’s interpretation of the verses, is so convincing that it’s easy to mistakenly think it’s actually a cover of some traditional Slovenian folk song.
Beyond the specifics of Koman and Tomšič’s guitar approach, where especially in the experimental moments you can sense a layered embrace of music through Koman’s vision, which in turn spills over into the compositions as a whole, the band’s expression also gets its special color from the mid-pitched, slightly shy and mystical, at times downright dark vocals of Vesna Godler (you may know the singer from the female alternative rock duo All Strings Detached). Her voice can also be fiercely, powerfully fired up, boiling over with accusation, or playful, in songs like Roka bosa, Svetilnik, Ina, Zima. Vesna’s vocal is fully convincing, her flexible delivery of the messages extremely sensual, deeply felt and passionate, and in the quieter moments also fragile, soft and mystical.
The band decided to put absolutely every track on it, a full fourteen. As a rule, ten or at most eleven tracks is plenty for any album. That move suggests this album might even be the band’s only one, precisely because of the sad fact that its visionary Klemen Koman is no longer with them. Given the musical style the album embodies, it’s hardly surprising that, for live shows after the release, the universal »Mr. Everywhere« Tilen Stepišnik stepped into Koman’s spot. The philosophy behind DidiWa’s approach to music is comparable to Stepišnik’s band Alkimia, and Koman’s knack for combining experimental jazz cues with the musical value of the lead phrases is 100% tailor-made for a guitarist like Stepišnik. Of course, we shouldn’t overlook guitarist Rok Tomšič either, who left just as equal a mark on the songs of “Greva” as Koman did. So let’s hope this stunningly beautiful album of polished songs, each one sharply defined in its artistry, doesn’t also spell the end of the band, and that its release isn’t just a posthumous tribute to its founder.
Line-up
Vesna Godler – vocals, backing vocals
Klemen Koman – guitar
Rok Tomšič – guitar
Gregor Solce – bass guitar, backing vocals
Miran Milič – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Miomira Šegina
Luka Dragovan
Tadej Legat – bass guitar on track no. 6
Ana – flute on track no. 6
Žiga Šercer – backing vocals
Iztok Zupan – programming on track no. 14
Production
Iztok Zupan
Track list
1. Gozdni blues
2. Nomadka
3. Roka bosa
4. Greva
5. Žabec
6. Dečko
7. Svetilnik
8. Ina
9. Kwijatuška
10. Zima
11. Avgust
12. Ženitvena pesem
13. Zelena oaza
14. Morje
