Label: Celinka
Release date: October 9, 2020
Production: Gaber Radojevič, Drago Popovič & Jan Baruca
Album length: 23.31 min
Genre: Singer/Songwritter
Rating: 8.0/10
At the start of this October, Rudi Bučar put out his sixth studio album, which he titled »Kambjale so čase«. If you ever listen to the emotional outbursts of Serie A commentators on an Italian TV channel, the phrase will definitely ring a bell whenever a substitution happens. Okay, let’s get to the music. It’s clear that Rudi found a huge amount of release long ago in listening to Iztok Mlakar and a few others in that corner of Slovenian singer-songwriter music, which gave him the wings and the confidence to go exploring those parts himself. That is, parts where the local dialect of the Slovenian language comes alive through poetry and music. He isn’t reinventing the wheel, and he doesn’t bring anything that would so much as nudge one of the listener’s eyebrows upward. In the end, he doesn’t even need to. With his sixth album, he keeps his artistic wisdom intact. He stays sprawled out quite comfortably on the couch of a musical direction where he’s right at home, handles it skillfully, and is known and loved for it.
Rudi has once again invited a garrison of top Slovenian musicians to put their stamp on the songs. These once more follow a subtle blend of pop rhetoric and melodies rooted in the folk tradition of Slovenian Istria (the title track, a rearranged »A Isola voio andar«), and of course there are pinches of blues, rock, even jazz, and – as you could probably guess yourselves – clear traces of flirting with cabaret chanson (»Plešem«, »Otroci tistega časa«), which is, after all, the embodiment of the magnetic inspiration for (far too) many Slovenian musicians. The most striking and interesting moments are the “genre-fused” ones, like (and I’m caricaturing in a bizarre way here) the sleepy swing of »Otroci tistega časa«, where traditional tunes, blues, a pinch of rock and cabaret chanson all shake hands in peace in one spot. Yes. In these far-from-rosy times, the album holds on to playfulness, humor and optimism, which means it’ll lift you up, wake you up with no trouble, and if you’re feeling grumpy, cheer you up. By the time this album came out, the song »Dolgo nisva pila« had surely already “become a folk song”. It confirms that Rudi and Hamo are significantly stronger together as songwriters than in the realm of their joint street covers of David Bowie. It’s certainly the song that stands out on the album (in terms of composition) and proves that their convincing vocal duet achieves an extremely appealing contrasting harmony.
There’s a good 23 minutes of music. Of that, only seven proper songs (not counting the intro and the outro). As the man hinted in the promo texts, this time the poetry speaks nostalgically and in a thoroughly full-blooded, sentimental way. Rudi’s heartfelt, sensual vocal delivery is once again the absolute guarantee that grabs anyone’s attention and holds it with ease. On that front, Rudi remains a convincing folk troubadour, which shows in the purebred singer-songwriter number »Čista«, and also in »Kakšni so takšni«, which is fragile and especially captivating vocally – practically born for rotation on “mainstream” radio waves.
The album was once again put together with great dedication. It was recorded in several different studios, under the production baton of three experienced sound engineers. That kind of attention to detail further enriches the contrast in character between the individual songs on the album, and that’s very good.
What would a “frog”, whose basic musical diet is caustic, untamed, razor-sharp guitars and a heap of stumbling rhythms of experimental weirdness, even dare to say about this fun, relaxed and likable piece of music? Not all that much. With »Kambjale so čase«, too, Rudi stays safely settled in his well-carved musical groove. He stays true to it. Short and to the point. But it’s very likely that this lovable singer-songwriter pop album will kick up more dust in inland Slovenia than on the coast, where Rudi’s aura long ago simply became part of the everyday furniture.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Teresina 1
2. Kambjale so čase
3. Otroci tistega časa
4. Kakšni so takšni
5. Dolgo nisva pila
6. Čista
7. Plešem
8. A Isola voio andar
9. Teresina 2
Lineup:
Rudi Bučar – vocals, guitar, percussion
Guest musicians:
Matevž “Hamo” Šalehar – vocals on track 5
Goran Krmac – tuba, foot stomper, voices (tracks 3, 4, 7, 8)
Anže Vrabec – piano, upright piano, Hammond organ (tracks 3, 5, 6, 7)
Robert Pikl – guitars, slide, charango, banjo, voices (tracks 3, 4, 5)
Tomaž Boškin – accordion, voices on track 8
Marko Hrvatin – guitar on track 8
Jan Baruca – ukulele on track 8
Martin Štibernik – bass guitar on track 5
Simon Markežič – bass guitar on track 8
Boštjan Gombač – percussion, sound objects on track 7
Mitja Bobič – rudič, percussion, voices on track 8
Tomi Purič – drums on tracks 3 and 5
Giulio Rosselli – drums on track 4
Marko Toškan – drums on track 8
