Label: Self-released / Zavod Orbita
Release date: 24.09.2018
Production: Samuel Blues
Album length: 32.26
Genre: Singer / Songwritter (Blues, Alternative Rock)
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Samuel Blues is the alter ego of Jesenice musician Samo Pivač. The guy is an extremely ambitious, driven writer of music and poetry, and from 2013 to today he’s put out no fewer than four solo studio albums. The latest, freshly released “Alpska psihadelija” has finally made its way to our editorial desk too.
The man is real to the bone, it doesn’t get any deeper than this, and what you see is what you get. No hiding places, let alone studio “post-fiddling” with the recorded sound. He records everything analog in his own bedroom at home, so what you hear is an authentic record of everything that comes through the microphone and the amps. Low budget, D.I.Y. smarts, total independence (“indie”) — you won’t find a more genuine imprint of musical expression.
Sure, the name Samuel Blues is the perfect address for anyone drawn to the blues, but still, with Samuel Blues the whole story is once again its own thing, and the “blues” tag needs a whole string of other labels pinned on it. If you add the name of the new album to the words Samuel Blues, you get a pretty good approximation of what this musician’s expression is all about. Low-budget psychedelic blues fermented on the sunny side of the Alps. Seasoned with a hugely sharp allegory of everyday Gorenjska peripeties. Samo Pivač is a wildly inventive and witty writer of poetry, and he manages to bring those lyrics to life in performance with real skill too. This approach is, with its blues mojo, foot-stomping on the floor and the occasional dash of expertly placed harmonica, limited in instrumental minimalism, but it’s precisely in this almost bizarre pruning of sonic elements that Samuel Blues proves an exceptionally nimble juggler, rescuing most of the material with a hugely likable, teasing, low-pitched vocal. It’s a mix of black vocal preaching, mumbling and growling caustically in sermon mode, and it feels great, because with this black sarcasm of constant “complaining” it delivers a proper tragicomedy to the album. And that’s the essence every honest rock’n’roll has to deliver. A heaping dose of fun. The vocal approach is recognizable, and that’s exactly what makes Samo Pivač, as a singer-songwriter, so appealing and special despite all the triviality of the song arrangements. Samuel Blues can be hugely mocking — calling him mischievous is almost too pretty a label — but it’s precisely in this vocal character that his poetry blends so deftly with the reality of our everyday lives.
In his burlesque sarcasm, Samuel Blues is dramatic, more of a mild pessimist who knows nothing of wandering in the highlands of carefree everyday life. Brutal groundedness is his thing; he’s a realist who shakes you up. Though he’s always ready for a good joke, that joke often has woven into it the realization of the bitter sorrow of existing in the present, of living among the hills of the Alps. In this tragicomedy hides the imprint of the core chaos of a society of grey mice, rigid and backward in its thinking, whose expiration date passed long ago.
“Alpska psihadelija” is a bold cry of the little man that puts you in a good mood, yet reminds you that there’s a bitter truth in the joke. With the new album, Samuel Blues is cementing his reputation for general recognizability on the Slovenian music scene. He’s growing and maturing as a singer-songwriter who never runs out of insight or the right charge for the arranging theater. With that kind of inspiration, the man will soon pen enough material for a new set of fun sub-Alpine requiems of black blues, with a proper alternative rock undertone. One man, one character, one musical tale, then. In excellent shape. A tale of sub-Alpine “Ej’ga” blues that long ago swapped the carefree cheer of the national hero and his famous (Kekec) songs for something far grimmer.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.5 / 10
Track list:
1. G.B.T.O. (03:40)
2. Stara Mama (03:07)
3. Kruh Pašteta (02:51)
4. Slovani (03:13)
5. Zelen Tobak (02:58)
6. Nož (02:57)
7. Dolar Kramp (02:22)
8. Pralnca (02:56)
9. Lepo se mej (02:33)
10. Ventilator (02:57)
11. Prašičev vampe (00:20)
12. Hribi (02:25)
Line-up:
Samuel Blues – vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion
