Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Simona
Label: Celinka
Release: 2015
Rating: 3/5
Simona Černetič is no longer a new name on Slovenia’s rich singer-songwriter scene. »Nedaleč stran« is her third studio album. In 2001 she put out »Aynee« (the name Simona performed under before), followed in 2010 by »Zdaj sem tu«. Even earlier, Simona Černetič cut her teeth as the guitarist and singer of Ahilova 6a. She made the new album completely on her own, and even played almost all of it herself. Praiseworthy. Respectable. The vision is there, and the guts to back it up.
»Nedaleč stran« can be described as a mellifluous, easygoing-sounding musical document where entirely organic sounds join hands, with practically no makeup of special sound effects. The exceptions are the rhythmic programming and some added synths (keyboards). It’s a cautious album. It wants to please the casual crowd. It’s a pop album that flirts with trendy indie touches and a dash of folk melody, and the sound of the instrumentation in the studio, wrapped around the vocal delivery, follows suit.
Never mind that the songs are nicely packaged musically across the board – they have a fine measure of listenability and thematic compatibility, so all in all it’s a crafty, detailed arrangement job – but what puts you off a bit is its predictability and its urge to wedge itself into heavy rotation on the radio airwaves, and I’m aiming mostly at Val 202 here. Which is hardly surprising. In the past Simona appeared twice at Slovenska popevka and once at Ema, in Bitka talentov, with the song Si to ti, and she also showed up on the compilation Val 08 – Imamo dobro glasbo. That she’s not to be trifled with is confirmed by two awards from the international singer-songwriter festival Kantfest, which she received in 2011 and 2012.
The light rhythms are of course mostly programmed, hammered out in a single rhythmic dimension. Mostly bouncy and danceable. Into the polished, melodically wildly catchy chorus hooks, Simona adds extra layers of backing vocals, which boost the at times rousing, if not downright solemn, character of this record. The album tries to be positive, which is also embodied in the simple, carefree lyrics, full of optimism. At the same time it carries a dose of melancholic longing, the melos being of course an imprint of its Slovenian geographic origin. The melodies can be so cautious that they slip into naivety, like in the song Hitro, hitro, which you can happily sing to kids in kindergarten, while the song, as a whole in its premise, tries to come off as cheeky.
A minor minus of this record may be the very color of the voice, which lacks any special charisma that would make it recognizable, memorable, if not downright unique, even though there’s no doubting the author’s great dedication in approaching every finesse of interpreting the material on the album. All in all, “Nedaleč stran” is a well-made, prettily packaged pop product from head to toe, one that’s first and foremost out to win the favor of the radio airwaves. Headed up by yet another one of the thousand variations on the folk song Po jezeru.
Lineup
Simona Černetič – music, vocals, guitars, harmonica
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Janez Sečnik – violin on track no. 11
Marko Jelovšek – double bass on track no. 11
Stane Verko – bass guitar on tracks no. 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8
Tomaž O. Rous – piano on track no. 12
Production
Simona Černetič
Track list
1. Bit
2. Na goro
3. Nedaleč stran
4. Vidim morje
5. Življenje je igra
6. Po jezeru
7. Hitro hitro
8. Nor dan
9. Revolucija
10. Svoboden veter
11. Portret
12. Pod oknom
