Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Juvančič, Katarina & Lapanja, Dejan
Label: Stray Cat Tunes
Release: 2014
Running time: 50:08
Rating: 4/5
Slovenia’s hottest singer-songwriter duo right now, Katarina Juvančič and Dejan Lapanja, are back with a new studio record just two years after their debut »Selivke« (2012), this time titled »Hope’s Beautiful Daughters«.
Katarina and Dejan sure don’t lack ambition. This time they headed off to faraway Scotland in search of inspiration and, together with local artists, built a bridge to what’s pretty much the first musical document born from a Slovenian-Scottish partnership. The friendships go way back, and the musicians’ back-and-forth visits to each other’s countries are practically a tradition by now. So why not create something together?
The new album is really a second part of »Selivke« (in terms of message). Once again it touches on »heroics« and triumphant exploits, but also on the mistakes and delusions of (the world’s) women, whether that means a selection of fictional (fairy-tale) characters or real people whose deeds have, one way or another, added a pretty sizable mountain range to the mosaic of human history. The main protagonists of the individual stories on the album of »hope’s beautiful daughters« are proverbially »caught« in St. Augustine’s thought on hope, which keeps giving birth to courage and anger. Two states of human consciousness, fatefully intertwined in a kind of mental and physical brain perpetuum mobile that keeps us forever on our creative toes. From solving the everyday intrigues of the »little guy« to stepping onto the Moon (and everything in between). Of course, we’re talking about that part of the world’s population that is (still) pure in heart, mind and deed. And on »Hope’s Beutiful Daughters«, as already mentioned, the focus is on the female world.
There’s no shortage of inspiration here. It’s a special kind of release, a mix of storytelling and actual musical numbers. In effect, the album has music for barely half of its total running time, somewhere around 26 minutes. As the main creators of the poetry, music and arrangements, Katarina and Dejan have a more than fascinating feel for the treasure trove of Scottish folklore and mysticism, as well as mythology. The record flirts with the traditional levers of Celtic melos, both in the lead vocal melodies and in the tight arranging, especially in the spots where cello and violin join in, in perfect harmony, with the lovely, delicate female vocals. The album is marked by a great charge of mystery – mysticism, with a solid dose of melancholy (which goes without saying when it comes to »Celticisms«), crowned with a wellspring of convincing emotion, as generated by the vocals of Katarina and the renowned Scottish guest singer-songwriter Karine Polwart.
The instrumentalists don’t just play the part of grateful extras; here and there they even stretch out into longer improvised passages. One example is the »escape« on Matija Krečič’s violin in the closing section of Frida, while Dejan Lapanja manages to elbow his electric guitar solo through the tangle of strings and give Sister Sun a bluesrock fix. As a result, the rhythm section also wakes up »noisily« in that same song. The crescendo of unleashed decibels, though, belongs to the closer, Rosa. The untamed, freedom-loving spirit of Rosa Luxemburg practically begs to be paired with rock moves! Dejan’s guitar adds contrast to Katarina’s theatrically animated vocal performance, which at times turns into recitals of theatrical resolve. A stormy finish to the album, then! One of the most interesting pieces on the record is Svarilo Janezu, a cover of the traditional Scottish folk song Mickey’s Warning, which brings a tasty flow of emotion through a blend of English and Slovenian verses! That’s down to the superbly complementary interplay and sensitivity of the vocals of Katarina and Karine Polwart. The delicate yet resolute vocals are tastefully countered by Dejan’s acoustic guitar arrangement, proving just how strong the Juvančič / Lapanja duo can be with nothing more than vocals and acoustic guitar. They need no more than that for a convincing display of their musical magic!
The album as a whole is also defined by three narrators in three stories. These are renowned Scottish masters of this kind of storytelling. Each of them builds their own »theater« with their basic color and tone of voice, one that pulls the listener into its own world with a concise delivery. Of course, those of you who are better armed with English, spiced with Scottish dialect, will have the edge on these tracks. In the opening and closing parts of the three chosen tales (Dreammaker, Ursilla, Mallie), musical accompaniment comes in from Slovenia’s Salamandra Salamandra (that’s the Latin name for the common fire salamander), whose accompanying melodies naturally fit right in with the Celtic sound figures. The starting idea itself is absolutely spot on, it’s just not executed all that effectively. The storytelling could have been backed throughout with this kind of musical backdrop, with Salamandra Salamandra even stretching out in a jazzy direction. On these tracks Salamandra Salamandra are minimal and come across as strictly rational. So they never really get a chance to shine, and the effect of their presence is barely noticeable. In fact, it’s missed. These are the spots where the album could have been seriously upgraded, and that’s where the potential for its artistic leveling-up lies.
»Hope’s Beautiful Daughters« is definitely something special. The basic vision is fully realized here. Under the watchful baton of Katarina and Dejan, the team-up of Scottish and Slovenian musicians comes together harmoniously, charmingly and concisely. It shows throughout. In the finesse of the committed, heartfelt delivery of the dominant vocals and the well-thought-out motifs that hold the structure of the individual songs together. The three narrations are woven vividly into these tracks, and the album as a whole achieves a noble theatricality, a weave of moods. The emotional depth on offer, a wellspring of unabashedly sincere feeling, demands special attention and commitment from the listener, but in return it rewards them with a full measure of enchanting experiences, the fruit of the uniqueness and great creative courage of the daring artistic vision of Katarina Juvančič and Dejan Lapanja.
Line-up
Katarina Juvančič – vocals
Dejan Lapanja – guitar, keyboards
Karine Polwart – vocals on tracks 2, 4, 6, and 7, guitar on track 7
Sedlan Baxter – cello on tracks 1, 2 and 6
Fiona Cuthill – violin on tracks 1, 2 and 6
Paul Tasker – guitar on track 6
Gašper Peršl – drums on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 9
Matija Krečič – violin on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 9
Klemen Krajc – double bass on tracks 1, 2, 6 and 9
David Campbell – narrator
Tom Muir – narrator
Lawrence Tulloch – narrator
Salamandra Salamandra Band (arrangements on 3, 5 and 8) are:
Samo Kutin – hurdy gurdy, vocals, kalimba, calabash, nguni, percussion
Matej Magajne – guitar, bass guitar
Sabina Magajne Bagolin – French horn, vocals
Dejan Lapanja – drums
Production
Katarina Juvančič & Dejan Lapanja
Track list
1. Irena (3:52)
2. Skeleton Woman (3:23)
3. Dreammaker (7:08)
4. Frida (6:06)
5. Ursilla (9:08)
6. Sister Sun (4:39)
7. Svarilo Janezu (3:12)
8. Mallie (8:12)
9. Rosa (4:20)
