Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Pinela
Label: Celinka
Released: 2012
Running time: 35:53
Rating: 5/5
The Pinela quartet is yet another seriously interesting addition to the roster of the independent Slovenian label Celinka, which keeps working tirelessly so that, in these crazy times, real music from real artists can still reach the ears of wider crowds. The word »real« here is tied to the homegrown quality of authorial insight, something the little guy, caught in the hellish hailstorm of shallow information from Big Brother, finds harder and harder to follow, if at all. And Celinka has shown with its releases so far that Slovenia is brimming with such artists. It’s just that nobody offers them the right support, so that the character of their artistry could spill out into a wider space, become noticed and, as a result, get the recognition it deserves.
Pinela are built, really, entirely on stringing together an organic soundscape. This band, too, has managed to carve out a musical groove all its own. They develop their expression through a colorful blending of traditional folk forms and elements of world music, and at every step you can feel a pinch of jazz foundations, especially when you follow the lively, softly supple rhythmic structures, often given extra contrast by brushwork on the drums, in a playful form.
Pinela build on the solid musical form of a crafted verse and chorus, and they strive throughout for a high level of soulful listenability. The driving engine of the band’s elemental message is the vocal of singer Mateja Bedenk Košir, which sounds inviting and knows how to bring out the power of interpretation with flexible articulation, through which a sensual adaptability to the given situation shines, effectively stressing and highlighting the feeling at hand. The colorfulness of many feelings of yearning, melancholy (Stopi z mano), elation, fragility, innocence,…. gives this album a special charm. At the same time, this band’s great strength is its masterful lyrical savvy, which, in a happy play of truth-loving metaphors, touches the listener deeply. Of course, that doesn’t apply to those of you who carry a stone in your chest instead of a heart. The songs compete with each other in lyrical power, each trying to be the one that leaves the deepest mark on the listener. If I step aside onto a personal note in this review, I’d especially single out the powerful message of the song Sonet.
The song Drevo actually puts Pinela in correlation with the autochthonous grape variety of the same name, which has thrived for centuries on a modest 50 hectares of the Vipava Valley and is native there. In the message of the verses, in the vibration the band creates through the mood of the song. A tree is not exactly a fitting description of the habit of a grapevine, but if you add the adjective »gnarled«, the starting point for this kind of quip suddenly becomes a lot more tangible. Caught in the message of this song is the band’s »green tongue«, a synonym for eco-preaching. A creature misunderstood by its creator, from whom it received only acts of lofty arrogance, vanity, indifference and pettiness. And not just this song. The album »Govori z mano« is really the gentle language of mother nature. A language that mother nature raised over several centuries of landscape interwoven in coexistence with humans. When you listen closely to the verses, they instantly suck you into the world of the rural landscape, where a vivid mosaic speaks up, made of tree and shrub borders (hedgerows), cultivated plantations, if you like, in this case also grapevines, solitary trees, meadow patches, stone walls,… It’s precisely these strictly organic collages that work on the principle of additionally contrasting the emotions brought to life by the lead vocal. Pinela enrich, or rather refine, these contrasts by integrating a wide variety of ethnic instruments. There’s the Malian instrument »ngoni«, the Hawaiian ukulele, and various accessories serving to accentuate rhythmic structures that originate from Cuba.
Everything the band takes on comes across as down-to-earth, and in that down-to-earthness it moves the listener. All the arrangements are unpretentious, based on combining delicate organic collages, and the band sticks to short but highly concise tricks. In this business Pinela are masters, as they know how to showcase their innate talent for sensitive interpretation in an exceedingly refined way, and effectively condense the available space of the sonic spectrum into a multifaceted, vividly painted picture book of a musical landscape that fits seamlessly with the lead vocal itself.
»Govori z mano« is Pinela’s first album! One of a special variety. Just like the grape variety itself. Authentic and recognizable in the very essence of its crafted art charisma. Clearly radiant in its phrasing, genuinely sparkling, with excellent arrangement synergies that fuse ideas into a conglomerate of inviting melodic characteristics and so masterfully magnify the lyrical confession of the songs. This is a special kind of genuine musical vibration, clearly emphasized in its atmosphere and radiating Slovenian-ness, for which you’ll be hard-pressed to find a parallel in its homegrown form. Even though the members of Pinela had thoroughly “roamed” all over the face of the globe before this album came to life, “Govori z mano” comes across in its homegrown vibe as a musical harvest that actually sprouted from the soil of the Slovenian homeland!
Lineup
Mateja Bedenk Košir – vocals
Luka Ropret – guitar, ngoni, backing vocals
Žiga Golob – double bass, ukulele, backing vocals
Blaž Celarec – drums, percussion, backing vocals
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Anda Eckman – backing vocals
Irena Lesjak – backing vocals
MArtina Šmid – backing vocals
Chris Eckman – special effects, organ, synthesizer, electric piano
Production
Chris Eckman
Track list
1. Drevo
2. Stopi z mano
3. Strah
4. Zvestoba
5. Krik
6. Draga
7. Bližina
8. Mravlja
9. Sonet
10. Mesečnica
