Label: Self-released
Release year: 2018
Album length: 50.27
Production: Martin Štibernik, Jani Hace & Sašo Gačnik
Genre: Singer / Songwritter
Sašo Gačnik – Svarogov is a guy who, especially in recent years, has also landed on the radar of the local rock crowd after joining the legendary Velenje hard rock fortress Šank Rock as their permanent keyboardist. Sašo is otherwise a man with an incredibly rich and colorful musical background, a seasoned veteran with a lot of miles on the clock and plenty of experience. So the time finally came for him to unleash his solo studio debut, which he titled “Duša”.
On “Duša”, which, as far as the overall energy vibes go, feels solemn to almost rousing, Sašo has assembled a crew of truly first-rate musicians. Plenty of people would love to have collaborators like these in the studio. The producer’s seat went to the excellent Martin Štibernik, who through his work is one of the key sound-builders behind a proper pop album on the Slovenian music scene. Gačnik clearly made the most of Štibernik’s innate finesse for lush, well-crafted arrangements, as well as for further enriching the sonic landscape with programmed samples and keyboard tricks, although, vocals aside, it’s of course Sašo Gačnik’s piano playing that dominates the album.
Add the other names working with Sašo in the studio, David Morgan and Žiga Kožar on drums, Robi Pikl on guitar and bassist Jani Hace, and it’s clear this record is no joke. Sure, at first glance it’s full of friendly little songs and trivial, predictable melodies that expose Gačnik’s musical roots and his doings from the days before Šank Rock, but the record has a big dose of artistic aesthetics. You can hear it in the filigree polishing of the arrangements and the detail work in putting together short, light, yet tightly measured strokes of songwriting. No surprise that Nuša Derenda guests in a duet on the track BEAT in TI, which in a way lets her pay Sašo back with her presence for his past work, from when the two of them collaborated.
The production is excellent. Full of organic textures and warmth, with a pronounced bass foot and the building blocks of the sonic picture placed remarkably wisely. Sašo Gačnik’s vocals are middle-of-the-road in pitch, pleasant and inviting throughout, while still managing to bring a clear sense of lived experience to the performance, which makes the messages in the lyrics come alive. True, we’re talking about a pop album in the classic Slovenian idiom, where mutual tolerance and a conciliatory approach between the elements of sound and arrangement are the essential thing, but to keep that high level of musicality and compositional tightness, individual players still manage to carve out that little bit of wiggle room in which they confirm, or remind us of, their outstanding musical chops. Štibernik’s cleverly added programmed samples (Njej) and his production wizardry have already been mentioned. Then there’s Robi Pikl, who among other things works in an exceptionally beautiful solo on “lap steel” guitar (Spet si sama), while his Elevators buddy Jani Hace steps up front especially in the “slap adventure” inside the funky playfulness of Ti in jaz. And there are David Morgan and Žiga Kožar, who show off their jazz grounding with their transitional touches. Through all this playing, there’s no overdoing it and no maneuvering by any of the building blocks of the sound to grab the dominant spot. Everything coexists in great mutual tolerance. Sašo’s voice sits at the center, in the singer-songwriter role. He moves into the middle especially on the album’s “softer” tracks, like Plavam naprej, Najin sin and Ona nosi vse na svojih ramah, where the piano arrangements also take more of the initiative.
Three bonus tracks are tacked onto the tail of the album, and the last one, Nekaj ti moram povedat, could easily have been one of the album’s main pillars, especially for those of you who are missing guitar decibels this time around. Trilogija is another extra track, which Sašo wrote in Russian and used in 2013 to take part in the Belarusian Slavjanskij Bazar, considered one of the most prestigious music festivals in the former Soviet Union. The opening of the album is fiery, just as the opening track carries a “fiery” title (Danes ogenj, jutri led). It’s one of the album’s most accomplished compositions, also given its more complex structure (verse, pre-chorus, chorus). The gradual build-up of atmosphere toward the chorus is downright triumphant in this track, which grabs your attention on the album in an instant.
“Duša” is a really lovely, polished pop and rock album. In a way it reflects a distant, yet (in terms of Slovenian musical heritage) deeply internalized, 1980s pop-song sentiment, judging by its structure and emotional vibe. A personal, confessional record on which the truth-telling Svarogov, in his free-spirited way, catches the wind in full sails to open up to listeners and lay himself bare, down to his very core. Mission accomplished.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.5 / 10
Track list:
1. Danes ogenj, jutri led
2. To nisi ti
3. Ona nosi vse na svojih ramah (Najin sin 2)
4. Najin sin
5. BEAT in TI
6. Postala sva hiša
7. Spet si sama
8. Njej
9. Plavam naprej
10. V Portorožu na postaji
bonus tracks:
11. Nash syn
12. Trilogija (2013)
13. Nekej ti moram povedat (2013)
Lineup:
Sašo Gačnik – vocals, piano, keyboards, backing vocals
Robi Pikl – guitar, charango, saz, “lap steel”
Martin Štibernik – keyboards, backing vocals
Jani Hace – bass guitar, backing vocals
David Morgan – drums, percussion
Žiga Kožar – drums on tracks 6, 8 and 13
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Nuša Derenda – vocals on track 5
