Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Vistoropski, Nika
Label: Celinka
Released: 2015
Duration: 32:45
Rating: 4/5
Nika Vistoropski is wading into singer-songwriter waters, the waters of cabaret chanson, with her studio debut »Ljuba«. A journalist by trade, she finally decided, after a chain of circumstances and above all thanks to the encouragement of Bojan Cvetrežnik and Branko Gradišnik, who steered her with their wealth of experience and knowledge and fed her confidence and courage, to try her hand at delivering poetry as a vocal storyteller.
Besides offering handy suggestions on the song arrangements, Cvetrežnik »found« the right musical accompaniment for her poetry: keyboardist Saša Vollmaier. Gradišnik, meanwhile, played »censor« and went through every line of her poetry beforehand, and even contributed the lyrics to one of the songs himself. The chemistry between Nika and Saša Vollmaier clearly clicked in the right direction right away, and the songs started to grow and develop. The way the two building blocks of the musical expression on »Ljuba« complete each other is fully tangible. The album is loaded with raw emotional passion. It has clearly laid-out build-ups and mood swings, and there’s no hiding the veil of constant tension stirred up by the drama of the unfolding story.
Since the album’s confession consists of nothing but vocals and piano, you have to enter the interpretation process and relive it to the bone. Naked, stripped bare in reliving the verses! Fully committed, fully engaged. You have to put your whole self in – into an interpretation that has to reflect a mature approach, one that sparkles with truthfulness, sincerity and authenticity. In full light. Only then can this kind of record truly win you over. It’s entirely organic in nature, alive. A live recap of what went down in the studio. Every little »slip« can seriously tarnish its image. Yet the album »Ljuba » scatters all »clouds of such dark thoughts« with feather-light ease. Nika can be anything at all. She slips into every role, every tiny piece of the mosaic of everyday life that’s part of our reality, all of ours. Her voice is remarkably supple. It can be resolute, almost sharp, and in the next moment tenderly caressing, almost whispering. A thread of melancholy runs through it all, she’s yearning, and at the same time the poetry in her delivery lights up something vivid and real, knocking effectively on the most hidden and intimate corners of the listener’s soul.
Vollmaier, on the other hand, complements Nika’s interpretation more than effectively. It’s precisely this exceptional adaptation to Nika’s vocal storytelling craft, where the waves of emotion never stop, that poses a special kind of challenge for Vollmaier, since with the piano he’s obliged to keep melting into the vocals as compatibly as possible. To follow her subtly and »illuminate« her. The interplay of the two building blocks is hugely successful and honestly even fun. Saša finds plenty of room both within the stanzas and between them, where Nika’s vocal steps out of the center of the action, and he makes effective use of the expanse of available space to stretch out in a role of sensual improvisation. That’s why this album carries an unmistakable element of cabaret jazz.
»Ljuba« is a seriously brave record. As said. It’s the imprint of Nika Vistoropski’s deeply intimate, lived-through approach and her perfect companion on piano, Saša Vollmaier. This is an album of convincing mutual attunement between two basic building blocks, where the interpretation doesn’t allow even the slightest mistake, because the album is organically alive, and so, in its own flawlessness, instantly vulnerable, and it demands a hundred percent focus and fully, sincerely relived devotion to interpreting the messages of the poetry. It’s a tough bone to gnaw on. In everything. It’s a special kind of puzzle made of powerful poetry and its interpretation, one that shakes and moves the listener with its honesty in a seriously tangible way.
Lineup
Nika Vistoropski – vocals
Sašo Vollmaier – piano
Production
Janez Križaj
Track list
1. Mleko
2. Majda
3. Ljuba
4. Zajtrk na travi
5. Romanca po stari šegi
6. Prvikrat
7. Miha
